


AMBR (A RWBY add-on)

by Scraxivele



Category: RWBY
Genre: Adventure, F/F, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-10-06 13:24:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 65,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17346005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scraxivele/pseuds/Scraxivele
Summary: The story of Ambur Magnaria and her team of misfits, following their journey through Beacon Academy and beyond, eventually colliding with the mildly altered canon of RWBY when the younger students arrive at the school. WhiteRose/Bumblebee/BlackSun/Arkos/ReNora Artwork for series stored here:  http://s792.photobucket.com/user/hellraiser717/library/AMBR%20finished%20ART





	1. Volume 1 Chapter 1: Graduation Present

'ZzZZZzz,' his scroll vibrated in his pocket, snapping him out of his stupor. He reached down into the pocket and grabbed the device, quickly opening the message. 'You on the shuttle?' It read.

'Yeah waiting for everyone to finish getting on so we can leave,' he sent back to his older counterpart. His eyes scanned the room again quickly, not looking too deeply at any of his new classmates. He found many of them were staring at him but he didn't expect any different from humans. He shoved his scroll back into the pocket of his black leather trench coat and adjusted the tall collar to conceal himself more. He was glad he had finally found a coat that he liked, it was even split up the back to just above his waist, allowing his tail to swing freely. 

Every time he heard a new voice in the shuttle his ears twitched up, struggling to keep his curiosity under control as he always did. The wolf features served him well, but it had never been easy to curb his more animalistic tendencies. Not to mention all of the hate that being a Faunus in Vale had garnered him. His heavy black combat boots tapped up and down on the metal floor, his legs were restless after waiting for this day for so long. He once again had grown ever so slightly, but just enough to need to buy new clothes. He hoped it would be the last time, as he had actually gone to the trouble of buying nice black band tees and black skinny jeans instead of his normal cheap clothing that he would outgrow every year. 

He had considered cutting his hair but decided to see how things went at Beacon before doing so, still straight, shoulder length and black, his tail and ears tipped with red. He had at the very least styled it out of his face, having spent four years in a school with other normal people had taught him to relax a little and at least try to be approachable in some capacity. Now, instead of his bright golden eyes shining through his black hair, they were on display, for better or worse. He could swear his hair was turning gray more and more every day, by the time he graduated he would probably have more gray's than Qrow, but for now, it didn't bother him. 

As the shuttle filled up more and more however the humans were forced to spread out, some drawing the short straws as it were, and having to come over to his side of the shuttle. He looked out the window and began to tune the rest of the world out as he returned to his thoughts. “Even less Faunus here than at Signal,” he grumbled out. As the students finally finished piling in and the shuttle began to take off he felt someone sit down on the bench beside him, taking him by surprise and once again snapping him away from his thoughts. 

When he turned to see who it was, he found a girl nearly as tall as he was sitting within just a foot of him, looking to the floor with her hands between her knees. Her hair was skunked, mostly black with white streaks running through it, styled over much of her face but he could tell that she had very vibrant red eyes. She wore a black sweatshirt with a bands name plastered on the front in white with a pair of black skinny jeans to match, ripped in several places. 

He couldn't help but notice too that even with the sweatshirt on she seemed very curvy for their age, filling her clothes out much more than the rest of the girls on board. The more he looked at her however the more and more he began to think he had seen her somewhere before, but more than that the more and more he looked at her the more and more she seemed to shy away from him as if feeling his gaze lingering on her. 

Before long she could no longer take the awkward stare before slightly tilting her head toward him and looking at him shyly through her hair. “Uhm...” she began quietly. “I...can move if I'm..b-bothering you,” she stuttered out. 

"Oh no I...Sorry, I uh...didn't mean to stare," he began awkwardly. "I just...do I know you?" 

Her cheeks flushed bright red as she looked back to the floor nervously, “No!” she blurted out. “I mean...puh-probly not.” He could tell she was nervous talking to him, most people were, but he could also tell that on the inside she was freaking out even more than her appearance suggested.

"Probably not? Well, are you from around here?" He pressed her, he swore he had seen her before somewhere. It felt like it was on the tip of his tongue but he just couldn't place the name. 

"Wh-well we...did go to school together," she spoke softly as she moved some of her hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear before slightly turning to face him, unable to look him right in the face. 

“Did we really? Huh no wonder,” he felt relieved for a moment. “Must have seen you in the hallways from time to time.”

The girl then whispered under her breath, of course, not realizing that his heightened sense of hearing would pick up her words anyway, "I mean we had like three classes together all four years but ya that too..." 

“Did we really?” He replied, taking her completely by surprise as she looked up to his face finally letting him get a good look at her.

“Oh gosh sorry I-I didn't...that was a rude thing to say-” She began to say before being cut off.

"Ohhhhhh," he said as he leaned forward toward her, remembering her name now that he could really see her face. "Ambur right?" Her face filled with light for a moment as she heard him say her name. She couldn't believe that he had remembered her. Even with all the classes, they had had together the two had never really interacted much and she never expected someone like him to remember her. 

“Ye-yeah,” she smiled softly as her vision returned to the ground in front of her, twiddling her thumbs between her thighs. “I can't believe you remember my name,” she blushed.

“No I'm sorry it took me so long I just...I've kinda been in a haze for...a few years,” he began to say quickly but slowed down when he realized he was getting a little too personal with his confession.

“You did seem like you always had somewhere to be,” she thought aloud before thinking better of her comment and changing the subject. “So...what are you doing all the way over here alone in the corner?”

He was a little stunned by her question, thinking the answer was obvious. “I mean...I'm the only Faunus on this shuttle...better question is why does that not seem to bother you?”

“Well...why would that bother me? It's not like you're an animal or something...your still a person,” she smiled back to him. His jaw dropped slightly at her words before he couldn't help but return her smile.

He slowly reached out his hand to her, taking her by surprise yet again before she slowly met his hand with hers. "Nice to really meet you, Ambur." 

'He's...he's touching meeee,' she thought to herself giddily as her cheeks flushed bright pink and shook his hand back. “V-Very nice to meet you too Mydnight,” she spoke very quickly. As they let each other go she turned fully toward him on their bench and he did the same. 

“So...” he began as he now got a good look at her sweater. “Casey Williams huh?” He smiled as he looked from the words on her sweater back up to her face. 

"Ya," she breathed out quickly, " she's my favorite," she replied as she once again tucked more hair behind her ears, her smile now glued on, unable to believe that she was suddenly in a conversation with the guy she had been staring at from across the room for four years. "What about you?" 

“Well I think you have pretty great taste,” he laughed, “She's my favorite too.”

“Really?” She nearly squeaked out in excitement not able to believe what she is hearing. “What song is your favorite?”

“Mmmmm,” he thought aloud as he lifted his hand to his chin and looked toward the ceiling. “Probably Wings,” he finally let out as he looked back to her, seeing her lips part as the blush returned to her cheeks.

“That's,” she began quietly in disbelief. “That's my favorite too...” She breathed out before laughing at herself. “Sorry,” she sighed as she looked back to the bench and fidgeted with her fingers. 

“For what?” He asked, tilting his head in confusion. 

“Nothing nothing I just...I don't really...talk to a lot of people...I always think I sound annoying.”

"Well you're not annoying me," he smiled back to her, forcing a smile over her lips as well before they heard a woman's voice over the ship's intercom. 

“Hello and welcome to Beacon,” the voice began, “my name is Glynda Goodwitch.”

“Oh man the recording is of her?” Mydnight rolled his eyes before looking back out over the horizon, Ambur looking back to him and beginning to ignore the message. 

“Do...you know who she is?”

"Ya, I uh..." he began before realizing that he was oversharing again. "My...uhm...Uncle," he paraphrased, "is friends with the headmaster here. I've met most of the teachers already." 

“Oh,” Ambur remembered quickly after he spoke, “You're related to professor Branwen aren’t you? At least that...was the rumor around school.”

“Ya,” he sighed, unsure of how to answer the question without a small white lie being involved. 

“So wait do you like...already know where we are all going after this?”

"Yep, we are supposed to have a big introductory speech from the headmaster and then eat. After that everyone sets up to sleep in the grand hall before being tested and put on teams tomorrow." 

“Oh, we all sleep in the same room the first night?”

"Ya, the paperwork doesn't really mention that part. Tomorrow night we will all be given actual dorm rooms with our three teammates though so after that it'll get more private." 

“Oh...w-well,” she stuttered a bit as she worked up the courage, “Would you...maybe like to be on a...team?”

He turned to her with a small smile across his lips, deeply impressed with how nice she was being, "I would but it doesn't work that way, unfortunately. The process is slightly random I hear so there's no way to guarantee that we will be on the same team." 

“Oh...” she let out sadly, though after a moment her soft smile returned as it sunk in that he did say yes to her question. 

As the airship finally descended to the landing area and they all began to file out of the ship, Ambur and Mydnight were the last two on their transport to depart. As they walked down the stone pathway, falling behind the crowd they saw one student off to the side that began waving when they caught sight of Mydnight and Ambur, quickly jogging over to them.

 

He was on the tall side, though about an inch shorter than Ambur and Mydnight, with very dull bronze colored eyes and messy short cut brown hair. His clothes were far tamer compared Mydnight's, much closer to Ambur's modest look, a black graphic t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. He falls in line walking with them as he and Mydnight low five each other. "Of course you're the last one off the boat," the kid laughs before looking over to Ambur and giving her a small wave. "Hey," he smiles with his eyes closed, "you're from our class too right?" 

“Y-ya I graduated with you guys at Signal,” she smiled back shyly, again surprised by the fact that one of her classmates had actually remembered her. “You're...Bronzine right?”

“Hah, ya I am...Magnaria right? Aaaambur?” he says, slightly unsure, but as she smiles and nods her head he snaps his fingers and points to her with a cocky smile. “Knew it,” he chuckles as he raises his arms behind his head as they walk down the stone path and into the main hall, finding the rest of the students already gathered around the stage. “So aren't you meeting Qrow or something after this?”

"Ya he asked me to meet him in the headmaster's office after the ceremony," Mydnight sighed before reaching into his pocket and grabbing his scroll. "Speaking of which," he thought aloud as the two watched him shoot a text message to Qrow. 'Ceremony starts in a few minutes, I'll be right over afterward.' 

As the ceremony came and went the students would be treated to not just Ozpin's speech but indeed one from Glynda as well, before being funneled out of the auditorium and toward the dining hall. However, as they got halfway there, Bronzine and Ambur saw Mydnight shoot them a quick salute as he began to walk in a different direction. "I'll catch you guys later alright? This shouldn't take long so save me a seat huh?" He smirked as Bronzine gave him a thumbs up and Ambur felt her cheeks flush slightly before nodding her head. 

Mydnight picked up the pace, walking quickly to the headmaster's office, heading into the building and straight back through the room to the elevator, however as the doors began to close he heard the entrance door opening and held his hand out to stop the elevator from closing. He had wondered if he was going to beat the headmaster back to his office but it appeared he was not, as he saw Ozpin and Glynda walking toward him and into the elevator, both nodding to thank him for waiting. “Nice to see you made it, couldn't see you in the crowd,” Ozpin smirked as he patted the teen on the shoulder. 

“Did you think I would miss it?”

“Well you've never been one for social gatherings now have you,” Oz smiled down to him before they both began to laugh.

“Ya I guess that's fair,” he chuckled out as the elevator began to go up to Ozpin's office. As the door opened Mydnight found Qrow standing against a pillar, already waiting for them to arrive.

“Hey kid,” he smirked as the trio walked out of the elevator and Oz moved across the room and came to rest in his chair behind his desk. “How was the flight?”

“Not bad,” he answered, looking around the room, watching the gears in the floor and ceiling turning as they always had. “How do you concentrate in here man I will never understand.”

“It calms me,” Oz let out as his vision too scanned the room, “helps me think. Reminds me that time never stops ticking.”

“Hm,” Mydnight hummed as he shrugged his shoulders. “So what do you guys need?”

“Well,” Ozpin began as he looked over to Qrow, Mydnight's vision moving to Qrow as well, giving him a questioning look. 

Qrow stands up straight, pushing off the column he was rested on and walks toward Mydnight. "He wants to make you like me, kid," he smirks. 

“Like...you?” Mydnight questions as he looks back to Ozpin. 

“You're...Qrow,” he corrects himself, “is one of my most valued associates but you may not entirely realize why that is Mydnight.”

"I mean, he's a really talented fighter and he's smart, what more do you need?" Mydnight joked before he felt a set of what felt like fingers take hold of his shoulder. His ears twitched in response to fluctuating wind near the left side of his head and he began to recoil slightly as his eyes darted over to see why Qrow had suddenly grabbed him. But the fingers were sharp, digging into his coat and in turn into his shoulder, and there weren't enough of them to be a hand either. His brain raced to figure out what Qrow had done, his mind working much faster than his body, recoiling more when his eyes finally met the piercing red eyes of a crow looking back at him, perched calmly on his shoulder, his uncle nowhere to be found. 

“WHAT the hell,” he let out in surprise as he stumbled to the side, regaining his balance as he realized the bird meant him no harm, simply looking back and forth between him and Oz. “Uhhhh,” he thought out loud as his mind began to race again.

“Qrow is the best gatherer of intelligence we have. He was given the ability to see and hear much more than a person,” Ozpin lets out with a smirk on his face, enjoying the show. 

“Wha...what are you saying,” Mydnight let out with slight panic in his voice as he stood up straight, keeping his eyes fixated on the crow. “You're saying this,” he pointed to the bird and looked back to the headmaster. “This is Qrow?”

"Look again," Oz pointed back to the bird, Mydnight looking back as the crow began to flap its wings, taking off from Mydnight's shoulder before black smoke began to pour off of the bird, the smoke falling to the floor and forming the shape of a human, before it took the form of Qrow, standing beside him just as he had been a minute earlier. 

"What the ffffffffffffu-" Mydnight gawked at his older counterpart, his mind unable to wrap around what he had just seen. 

"Take it, easy kid, we will explain," Qrow let out as he rested his hand on Mydnight's shoulder, the wolfman looking back to Ozpin for answers. 

“Hu...how, what did you guys do?”

“Well as we have already explained to you in the past, magic is very real Mydnight. I spent an amount of it to give Qrow the ability to change into a bird at will,” he begins as Mydnight's vision drifts back over to Qrow. “This allows Qrow to be my number one source of information about our end goals.”

“Well...” Mydnight breaths out before he takes a deep breath and calms himself. “That does explain a lot but...why tell me this? Why wait until now?”

The room goes silent for several seconds as all of the older members of the conversation look to each other individually, nodding to one another in agreement. “Because we have decided that...gaining another scout of Qrow's quality would be best for our group. Especially considering how much of our situation you are already aware of and how much information you have already been entrusted with over your past four years at Signal.”

“Wait are you...” He asks softly as his mind connects the dots. “You're saying you want...me to be able to do that as well?”

"Naturally," Ozpin smiles comfortingly, "The choice is up to you, of course, I would not force you to do this, nor anyone else. Qrow was given a choice and so shall you be. You may wish to take a few days to consider the offer. No one is asking you to decide right here on the spot." 

“Well...” He begins to think out loud. “I certainly wouldn't wanna be a bird.”

Qrow chuckles to himself as Ozpin speaks back up, "Oh no no my boy I guess I wasn't too specific on that. Considering you are already part wolf I think it fitting to give you the ability to change into a full-on wolf, rather than a bird. This will limit your range, of course, not being able to fly, however, it will still improve your speed and senses exponentially." 

"Well that's good at least but...how would I be expected to keep a secret like that from my teammates?" He asks quickly, "What if they found out by accident? Am I expected to run solo missions and leave my team here to wonder where I've gone off to?" 

“We would cross that bridge when we got to it. It is entirely possible that whoever ends up on your team may eventually need to be given the information that you can change in addition to possibly being brought into the fold entirely if you end up on a team with trustworthy people,” Glynda answers him. 

"Well if that's the case can't you just...I don't know pick my teammates for me?" 

"No, it shouldn't come to that. I'm sure whomever you end up with will be good for you, in all my years of assigning random teams I've not misjudged yet," Oz smirks. "Now please, take your time to think about this. You may go back to the dining hall, the food should be coming out of the kitchen right about now." 

“....Alright,” he shrugged his shoulders before turning to Qrow and nodding, heading back to the elevator, calling it and getting inside before heading back down to the ground floor. As he walked out into the cool air of the late afternoon he fished his scroll out of his pocket and shot a text to Bronzine. 

'On my way back,' it said, receiving a text back quickly. 

'Alright, we saved you a seat and they are setting the food out now.' He read as he began to jog across the stone pathways and into the dining hall, scanning the room quickly until he found his friends, both old and new waving to him. He rushed over and sat down, dodging servers before sitting down between the two of them, the students around them taking notice and giving the three of them, especially Mydnight, unimpressed looks. 

This area had always been an unsavory one for Faunus, even more so now that they were at an actual academy and taking students from all over the world. The students coming in from each part of the world were very easy to pick out, just from how they reacted to seeing the few Faunus scattered around the room. The Vale students would turn up their nose or make fun, the Mistral and Vacuo students treated them like normal people and the students from Atlas would openly persecute them and go out of their way to make a Faunus feel worthless. 

Back in Signal, he had endured some small spouts of bullying at first but once his classmates had seen how capable he was in a fight they quickly decided they were better off ignoring him instead. Even without a semblance to fall back on he had never lost a match and had graduated at the top of the class when it came to fighting. Of course, having Qrow train him early before class and staying late after class had helped, it always helps to have a mentor when you fight with a unique and unpopular weapon. 

As they ate they began to strike the conversation back up, Bronzine in particular prying into what Mydnight's meeting had been about. “So you're really not gonna tell me huh?” His best friend smirked as he lightly elbowed Mydnight in the side. 

"Nope," he shoved him back, "Top secret," he joked before looking over to Ambur, whom he found staring back at him, as if in a trance. "Yo," He said as he snapped his fingers in front of her, causing her to blink and reel backward in surprise, being ripped out of her trance. 

"Oh sorry!" She blushed as she stared down into her lap. "I didn't mean to stare you just..." She began before falling silent and closing her eyes. 

“Just what?” Mydnight asked.

“I've...never really been this close to a Faunus for a long time and I just...It's rude to stare but you're just so interesting,” she said quietly. 

“Hah,” Bronzine laughed to himself, covering his mouth to keep from losing any of the food in his mouth, swallowing before speaking again, “Mydnight couldn't be any less interesting if he tried,” he teased before his wolf friend jabbed him in the side, paying him back for before and shutting him up. 

“It's fine then,” the Faunus teen shrugged his shoulders before turning back to his food. 

Ambur looked to him finally, watching him eat again in surprise at his reaction, feeling more and more comfortable around him as the night went on. As the class began to finish eating the trio stood and headed to toward the grand hall, unpacking their sleeping bags and each getting the chance to change into their night clothes before meeting each other in the far corner of the room, spreading their bags out in a small triangle. 

The lights eventually got low, dimming as the night went on and more students fell asleep. The two boys talked up a storm all night, not having seen each other since the end of the last school year at Signal since Bronzine lived so far away. Still from the Kingdom of Vale, however, much farther south than the main city or the island of Patch. Ambur, however, sat in almost silence, laughing at their jokes occasionally and reacting to their stories in her own head. She never said much though, too nervous to interject her opinions for fear of derailing the boy's conversation. She loved listening to them talk, slowly learning more and more about the pair, hearing about their adventures together, happy to learn as much as she could about Mydnight as possible. 

Though eventually, she could not keep up with them anymore, talking on and on into the night as she silently dozed off, neither of them taking notice. She never had considered that she could feel so welcome around mere strangers to fall asleep in front of them but there she was, peacefully dreaming with a smile on her lips in front of the boy she had been watching for four years of her life. After a few minutes, the boys too blew out the candle they had illuminating their little corner of the room. As they lay down Mydnight rolled onto his side, his golden eyes glowing in the darkness, looking across the small space to see Ambur facing him in her sleep, her smile plastered on her full red lips making him crack a smile of his own. 

“What a nice girl.”

_End of Chapter_


	2. Volume 1 Chapter 2: She Who Cried Wolf 1

The sun rose over Beacon cliff the next morning, waking all the new students eventually as the rays shone through the floor to ceiling windows of the grand hall. As the students rose and began to get ready for the long day ahead of them, Ambur and the other two students became separated. As the boys were directed into the men's room to get changed and cleaned up for the day Ambur found herself alone again, listening to the ushering of the teachers. As she changed back into a clean t-shirt, underwear, and bra she chose to wear her jeans and t-shirt from the day before, slipping new socks on underneath her high-top sneakers. 

Soon enough she was able to find a quiet section of the long counter, seeing all the other girls gossiping together except for the select few girls like herself, trying to blend into the background and get their business done without confrontation. Of course, for other girls, this was a much easier task than it was for Ambur. She had just turned eighteen but she showed no signs that she would stop growing. She was already over six feet tall and had a very pronounced hourglass figure which made it impossible to blend in crowds of other girls who were all much shorter than her, and very few having such mature bodies as she did at their age. 

So no matter how many times she dyed her hair black and no matter how many black band tees she bought she still stood out and her efforts were wasted. She pulled a makeup wipe from her bag and scrubbed her face until all the product from the previous day was removed before redrawing her wings and flicking her mascara brush through her eyelashes. After she was satisfied she brushed through her hair, however as she did she saw another girl come up beside her in the mirror, looking up to her briefly before looking into the mirror, her vision darting between herself and Ambur. 

Ambur could easily tell why she was giving her strange looks, making her feel even more insecure about her abnormal height than she usually did. 'This girl is tiny,' she thinks to herself. She had to be only just five feet, maybe five foot one inch Ambur reckoned. Ambur towered over the girl, her red eyes occasionally awkwardly connecting with the girls Plum colored orbs in the mirror, catching each other looking one another over. She wore white skinny jeans and Ambur had noticed that she was propped up by a pair of white open-toed heels, very tall, still barely making the girl come up to Ambur's chest. She wore a simple white tank top, and as Ambur kept watching, she saw the girl apply her make up perfectly, her long flowing white hair making her makeup and her eyes stand out beautifully. 

However, after a while Ambur heard the girl speak, breaking her out of her admiring trance, “You're very pretty you know?” She heard, shocking her ears. 

"Wha..." She began as if she hadn't heard her correctly, looking to her face again in the mirror as the girl looked away and continued to get ready for the day. "Sorry, you...you mean...m-me?" She stuttered in disbelief. 

“Ya, who else?” She retorted with a smirk on her face, looking around, Ambur following her vision in the mirror with a blush spreading across her cheeks, seeing clearly that there is no one else around them. 

"Wha-well I...thank you, I guess," Ambur finally managed to let out softly as she looked down to the counter away from the girl, her cheeks burning at the girl's compliment. "But you're much prettier than me," Ambur added as she shyly looked back up to her without moving her head, only her eyes. 

“Hah,” the other girl mock laughed at Ambur's comment. “Please,” she rolled her eyes before turning to Ambur and lifting her hand to the much taller girl's chin. "Look at me," she said to Ambur, who reluctantly lifted her chin and looked down into the girl's stunning plum eyes with her own red ones. "What's a girl as pretty as you doing all the way over here in the corner avoiding people?" She asked before letting go of Ambur and grabbing her own eyeliner from the counter and lifting it to Ambur's face. 

“Wh..” Ambur began, unsure of how to answer her question, and slightly nervous as she let the girl redraw her winged liner as she saw fit. “I don't...I'm not...” she sighed before falling silent and letting the girl work on her face. 

“You from around here?” She asked after realizing that Ambur wasn't going to answer her. 

“Ye...yeah I uh...just graduated from Signal...What about you?”

"Mistral," she smiled back, glad that she was getting the taller girl to talk to her. After a moment she pulled back and capped her eyeliner and turned Ambur back toward the mirror, Ambur's jaw dropping slightly as her cheeks went red. She brought her hands together and couldn't help but feel a warm rush flow through her body. 

“Th-thank you...” She said in awe, much preferring the girl's work to her own. 

“My pleasure,” she smiled as she went back to working on her own face. “What's your name?”

“Uhm...Ambur,” She said as she snapped out of her trance, looking away from the mirror and down to the girl and held her hand out shyly. “What's yours?”

"Olivier," she let out with a smirk and shook Ambur's hand gently. "Nice to meet you, Ambur." 

"Nice to meet you too but...if you don't mind me asking," she asked nervously before bending down slightly and whispering into Olivier's ear. "Why...did you pick me to come and stand next to out of everyone in here?" 

Olivier couldn't help but laugh. She hadn't known anyone like Ambur back in her area of Mistral and it was a bit hard to understand Ambur's disposition. "You looked lonely like you could use a friend and since I'm the only one from my graduating class that decided to come to Beacon, I don't have any friends either," she smirked as she looked back to the mirror. 

Ambur was surprised, to say the least. She couldn't stop smiling as she watched the girl continue to get ready. She couldn't believe how easily the first two days had been so far. Having mustered up the courage to talk to her crush of four years and made her first female friend she had had since she was a little girl without even trying. "So tell me," Liv spoke as she began piling all her belongings back into her bag. "Is your hair black or white?" 

“White,” she sighed, “I like to dye it black though...”

"Because you want to blend into the background ya?" Liv remarked with a teasing smile before she began to walk away, looking back and motioning for Ambur to follow her. Ambur quickly piled her things back into her bag and followed Olivier out of the bathroom and toward the locker room where they had all been instructed to leave their bags. 

“...Ya...I don't like to...stand out you know?”

"Oh trust me," Liv laughed, "I can tell. It's plain for all to see," she teased, getting a small laugh out of Ambur. "You know it sort of has the opposite effect right? I could pick you out of a crowd no matter what you wore so why bother trying to hide? You're tiptoeing Ambur. With a body and a face like that you need to strut," she said matter of factually as she lifted her arms out beside her and began to walk on her tip toes with her back straight and head level as if balancing books atop it. "Put your hips into it," Liv laughed out before demonstrating what she meant, swinging her much smaller hips into her steps for Ambur to see. 

"Oh, I don't...I don't' know about that," Ambur blushed before Liv laughed again as they came to the large locker room, turning inside and walking toward the back of the room, Ambur scanning the room to see if the two boys had made it here yet, and indeed they had. She could see Mydnight facing his locker with Bronzine sitting on a bench behind him, already finished getting ready. 

“You know those two?” She heard Liv ask, before feeling the smaller girl put her hand into Ambur's, taking it and walking toward the two boys with Ambur in tow, quietly pleading for Liv to wait, but before she could even think about stopping her, she saw Mydnight's ears twitch before he turned around to see the two girls coming toward them. When Bronzine saw the look on Mydnight's face he too felt the need to turn around to look still sitting down. 

"Hey Ambur," the boys said in unison as they two girls made it to them, "Who's your friend?" Mydnight continued. 

“Uh...huh,” Ambur scrambled for words before looking down to Liv. “Th-this is Olivier,” She finally managed with a smile. “I just met her in the bathroom, she helped me with my make up,” Ambur began to ramble.

“Well that's nice of her,” The boys nodded to the much shorter girl with smiles. “Nice to meet you Liv,” Bronzine said. “I'm Bronzine and this is Mydnight,” he points to his friend, “Don't worry he doesn't bite,” he winks.

"Nice to meet you too," Liv smiled up to Ambur with a surprised look on her face, impressed that the shy girl had managed to make friends with two other people already in the day they had been at the school. Olivier and Ambur stuffed their bags into the two lockers beside the boys and each of them began pulling their weapons out of their lockers. Ambur's came first as she accidentally scraped the top of the doubled-edged broadsword against the top of the locker, the sword barely able to fit into the locker at all. 

It was just as tall as she was, the other students could barely believe she was able to lift it off the ground at all but it seemed almost effortless for her. Mydnight could hardly believe that he had never noticed it before when they had been at school, but then again Ambur was so shy that it was possible that he just never saw her fight, not to mention that he had been so busy training on his own that he may have completely missed her ever holding it. The sword wasn't just tall though, it was very wide, blade to blade it was nearly as wide as Ambur's hips, the golden cross guard stretching out even farther. Its hilt was wrapped in red leather and took up nearly a foot of the sword's length by itself. 

“Woah,” Liv looked the blade up and down, “how the hell do you wield that thing. I couldn't even lift it up!”

“It's uh...my semblance,” Ambur blushed as she sheathed the massive sword on her back, the sling rotated to one side slightly so the blade wouldn't drag into the ground as she walked. “I'm just really strong,” she shrugged her shoulders. “Not very interesting I know.”

“Just really strong?” Mydnight questioned in disbelief. “Like how strong?”

"Well...I don't know I try not to...really use it a lot cuz it draws attention..." Ambur admits before folding her arms over her chest. 

Olivier had hers out of her locker next, though the others couldn't tell how it was supposed to be a weapon. It was a small backpack at first glance, and Olivier slung it over her shoulders, the bag resting at the small of her back just above her tailbone. She saw the others give her questioning looks and she couldn't help but smile. “You'll see don't worry about it,” she shrugged with a smile, the rest of the group simply nodding in agreement with her, the curiosity running away from their expressions. 

Bronzine was next, producing a pair of dual short swords from the locker, before pressing the hilts together, mechanisms whirring as the two swords connected to one another and a wire shot from one tip to the other connecting the other ends and forming a bow. Next, he produced a quiver of varying types of arrows, different bunches separated within it by dividers for different tips and dust types. 

Mydnight was last to produce his weapon from the locker, in it's folded up state the item seemed like a very unusually shaped staff. Sharp fist-sized teeth shaped protrusions littered the black red and white device, and atop the 'staff' was a sculpted piece shaped like a wolf's head. It was like a work of art really, however, open seeing the groups confused looks he pressed a button on the shaft and the device folded out, quickly re-arranging into a massive chain scythe. 

The teeth shaped pieces became the teeth that wrapped in a chain around the blade of the scythe, and the wolf's mouth now had a ripcord within it, presumably to start the dust powered motor within the head. The scythe was just as tall as Mydnight was and the group all took a step back in awe. Bronzine and Ambur had seen the scythe before, back in Signal when Mydnight had sparred with other students, however, it seemed that over the summer he had tweaked a few things about it. For one it hadn't been able to fold up before, and the paint job was far more intricate this time around. "I thought you said you couldn't get it to fold up? Too complicated?" Bronzine smirked. 

"Qrow helped me out a lot with that," Mydnight admitted with a smile before folding the weapon back up and grabbing it's sling from his locker, storing the weapon on his back. "Wasn't easy. Anything with a chain in it really doesn't mix with folding but we figured it out." He said again before he began to walk out of the room, "Come on, don't wanna be late right?" He smiled back to them as the group of students headed out of the building and out to where they had all been told to meet this morning, atop the Beacon cliffs, overlooking the emerald forest. 

As the students line up along the cliff they see more and more of their classmates joining them, keeping as far as they can from the small band of misfits. Of course, the only one who cared to notice was Ambur, the other three without a care in the world, getting to know each other while they all waited for the headmaster to show up and begin the exercise. As they wait a few of them begin to stretch in anticipation of the events to come. They could see metal plates lined up all along the cliff, figuring they would need to stand on them for the event to begin. "So," Bronzine finally broke their small talk up, "any idea what we are doing?" He asked looking down to Mydnight who was adjusting his boot laces 

“Well,” he grunted out as he finished and stood, lifting his hand up to his forehead and looking out over the cliff, “This is clearly how we are being broken up into teams, though it remains to be seen exactly how I think it's pretty clear that we will be searching for something in the forest. Why else bring us out here?”

"The point IS to be SEEN," they hear a man's voice say, turning to see Ozpin heading toward them, barely having overheard Mydnight's words. "Everyone please pick a plate and stand on it," he looks around, sipping his tea as Glynda walks up behind him. As the four students took their positions on the last four plates in the row Ozpin spoke again, nodding to Mydnight. "As your classmate surmised you will be indeed looking through the forest to find relics that I have hidden within it. Though the first thing you should know before all of that is how your partners will be chosen." 

Glynda speaks up, continuing his speech, "Each team will be made of two different pairs of students. While your teammates are of great importance, the only thing that trumps them is your partners. Your partner will have to become your closest and most trusted ally here at the school for the next four years. You need to be able to confide in them, tell them anything and be there for each other whenever needed. This is a stressful life and the ability to have someone to talk to about any of your problems is paramount." 

“That being said,” Ozpin begins again, “The first person you make eye contact with inside the forest will become your partner for the next four years,” he smirked, always enjoying the look of shocked faces on the first year students every time he told them that little fact. 

“What,” Ambur breathed out nervously, loud enough for only Mydnight to hear. He could tell easily that she was very nervous as she began to fidget in place, becoming visibly uncomfortable. She wasn't the only one though, Mydnight could tell that plenty of the other students were nervous about the information as well. 

However, the students would have to hold their tongues as Ozpin continued with his instructions. "All you have to do is find the relics and make it back to the school in one piece. Simple enough don't you think?" He thought aloud as the students began to ready themselves. "Those platforms will be launching you into the forest below, you all will be responsible for your method of landing safely in the forest and you may do so however you please. As he looked down the line of students he saw no objections, and so he nodded to Glynda who pressed a section of the screen on her tablet. "Good luck then," he lifted his glass before the first students began launching down into the forest. 

Ambur and the others were the last four to be launched, and as they all flew up into the sky and began to drift apart, Ambur spent most of their hang time looking at where the others were going to land, trying to trace them down to the ground, before she fell under the tree line. Landing safely was no trouble for her of course, not requiring her to do any fancy motion or even attempt to slow down at all. As she hit the ground she fell to one knee and slammed her fist into the dirt, the action rippling through the ground as a dust cloud kicked up around her, leaving a small crater where she had landed. Her semblance allowed her to take impacts even as great as these without even using her aura to absorb the blow. 

As quickly as she could she stood up and dusted herself down, looking around quickly to make sure there were no Grimm in the area before she began running through the trees in the direction of where the other three should have landed based on the last time she saw them.

However, she, and indeed neither of the other two would be the first person to lock eyes with Bronzine, As just before he fell below the tree line he would fire an arrow with a cable attached to it into a tree and use his momentum to swing forward, back above the tree line for a brief moment, moving far past where most of the other students had landed, leaving his friends in the dust. 

Olivier had to work a bit harder than the rest, bouncing between different branches from different trees trying to slow herself down until at last, she hit the ground. She did trip a little on contact but quickly regained her balance before keeping up her momentum and running through the forest. 

Mydnight too had to work for his landing, pulling out his scythe and having the teeth catch on as many branches as he could on the way down, slowing him enough to where he could hit the ground, digging his boots into the dirt and sliding across the forest floor for several yards before grinding to a halt. Of course, Ozpin knew all too well that Mydnight's Faunus senses made this event a bit trivial, as he could more or less pick whomever he wanted for a partner. He could hear people coming much farther away, and if he didn't want to partner up with them he could just go in the other direction until he found someone he would prefer. 

Mydnight suspected that Ozpin had actually meant for him to do just that, seek out a partner that he could trust and would eventually be able to be brought into the inner circle and be of use to the group, but more importantly, be someone that Mydnight could always count on. As he began to walk through the forest he tried to listen for all the other students, trying to pick faint voices out in the distance. He would walk for several minutes, selectively dodging voices that he couldn't place and people coming toward him that he hadn't met, or even students from Signal that he had never gotten along with. 

The sun was growing higher in the sky, the temperature though was not much of a concern, Mydnight ever thankful that even in the beginning of the school year the climate of Vale had never been too much for him to handle. Through the trees, he could see rays of light, and below him, they danced on the forest floor. Though as he walked on his peace was interrupted by yet another person's footsteps coming through the trees. He heard no voice though, assuming that the person coming had not yet found a partner, and as they got closer he could tell there was only one set of footsteps. He stepped behind a tree and waited, listening as the person came closer and closer until they were only two or three trees away from him. 

"Mydnight?!" She cried out with her hands cupped around her mouth. "Man I thought I saw him over here," she sighed as she kicked a stone on the ground, the stone rocketing into the tree Mydnight was standing behind, digging into its bark. 

He was relieved upon hearing her say all of this, easily able to identify the girl before stepping out from behind the tree to greet her. “You did,” he said as he came into her field of vision, seeing Ambur look up to him, her cheeks flushing as she put her hand over her heart in surprise. 

"You...Mydnight you're," she began to fumble with her words as she looked around. "You're alone?" 

“You too huh?” He smiled before he began walking again until he was beside her.

“Ye-yeah,” she sighed in relief, blushing harder and harder as he came closer, her heart pounding in her chest with joy. “So...we...we're partners then?” She asked shyly before tucking some of her hair behind her ear. 

“Looks that way,” he nodded to her with a smile, “Let's go then, we got a relic to find right?” he said happily, grateful he had been able to find one of his few friends before finding anyone else. As he began to walk she stumbled after him, following close behind him as they walked deeper into the forest. 

“So...why were you hiding behind that tree?” She finally asked as they walked along. 

“Well I figured since I can hear people coming I'd try to pick a partner that I wanted, instead of it being completely random,” he answered. 

“You...you waited for me?” She stopped, stunned by his words.

"Well, Bronzine went on ahead so ya," he smiled back to her. "Figured you'd make a nice partner," he added as he kept going into the brush. She continued following him again, feeling as if she was walking on air as if she were in a daydream. As they pressed on her mood never soured, and true to form as they kept going they became more and more surprised at the fact that they weren't running into any Grimm. Mydnight could hear a few in the distance but they seemed to be following students who were more nervous and in worse moods, over getting partners they didn't want. 

Eventually, the pair found their way to a clearing in the trees, which gave way to a long stone pathway. It seemed to be the ruins of some sort of structure, where a part of it seemed to be a large circular room, and in the background far ahead of them they could see what looked to be the skeleton of a fort or castle of some kind. As most of the other students had been held up by the creatures of Grimm or indeed by becoming lost in the woods temporarily, the pair arrived before anyone else, heading for the open circular stone structure. Upon closer inspection, they found the relics that Ozpin must have been referring to in the form of oversized chess pieces on stone pedestals, one white set, and one black. 

"So...what are we supposed to do with these?" Ambur wonders aloud as she walks up to one of the pedestals and looks over the piece in front of her. "Think they are booby-trapped?" She jokes quietly, raising a small laugh from Mydnight. She had stopped in front of the black rook piece and was looking it up and down. 

“I guess we just pick one,” he chuckled out before walking to her side and pointing to the one she was studying. “Want that one?”

“Oh uh...I mean we don't have to take this one,” she stood back up straight and stepped over to the side to give him space. “You can pick if you want I don't...really know chess,” she admitted. 

“Well you must be able to read minds,” he laughed before placing his hand on the piece and picking it up, both going silent for a few seconds to see if any sort of trap had been sprung. When they realized nothing was going to happen he tossed the piece up into the air before catching it again and handing it to her to hold on to. 

“Why do you say that?” She asked him quietly as she looked down to the piece and back up into the eyes of her new partner. She watched as a smile spread across his lips before he shrugged and turned around, walking away from her slowly. 

“You picked my favorite piece,” he admitted as her cheeks flushed bright pink in surprise, looking down to the piece in her hand.   
_End of Chapter_


	3. Volume 1 Chapter 3: Bronze and White

His boots hit the tree branch, balancing himself atop it as he looked all around him. He had landed much deeper into the woods than most of his classmates, having used a grappling hook arrow to sling himself forward in the trees. As he listened he found that indeed no one else was around him, before dropping to the ground and beginning to jog through the forest, fairly care-free as he pressed on. He had always been pretty easy going, something that Mydnight had always appreciated about his first friend. Mydnight had referred to him on more than one occasion as a clown, the class clown, in fact, always managing to make anyone laugh if he wanted them too. 

He had always been gifted with a comedic mind and timing to go along with it, though of course, his teachers would highly disagree if you asked them. He had often interrupted lessons and Qrow had been their only teacher that had ever let it slide from time to time as he had never taken the job too seriously. Everyone at Signal knew that Qrow disliked teaching, it wasn't as if he ever hid it from view, and most students thought he only had tolerated the position simply to focus on training Mydnight. 

This had naturally made Qrow one of the most disliked teachers and had given Mydnight the role of teacher's pet which many of his classmates had loved to make fun of him for at first, being a Faunus and all. At first, Qrow had tried to make the students stop but before long Mydnight had decided to stop letting it go, stood up for himself and demonstrated to those students just how much of a gap there was between himself and the others. Bronzine had witnessed on multiple occasions just how strong his friend was, and after all, said and done he had made friends with the wolf boy early on in their first year at the academy. 

This, in turn, had also made Bronzine somewhat of an outcast. Not as much as Mydnight or Ambur had been, but an outcast nonetheless. He had grown up in the southern area of the kingdom of Vale on a farm. When it had come time for him to pick a school to go to his parents had saved up the money needed to put him through combat school as he had wanted. Back then his motivation had simply been to learn how to keep a watchful eye over his family's land and take care of their small town but the longer he stayed at Signal the more his ambition had grown. He had become a very formidable fighter in the last four years and had decided to continue his combat training at Beacon so he could become a fully fledged professional huntsman. 

This, however, had not dulled his comedic disposition, figuring that if you were going to spend your entire life slaying monsters you may as well have fun with it, right? As he walked on he was eventually snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of a monsters roar through the brush just ahead. He readied his bow and slowly crept forward, taking cover in a bush and catching a glimpse of his first Grimm of Beacon, a simple Ursa stalking around the forest looking for a target. As he drew his bow from his back and cocked an arrow with a burnt dust infused tip he took aim, looking down the arrow to his target, the monsters head of course. However before he could shoot he heard another student yell off in the distance, distracting him for a moment, looking to the direction the scream had come from. 

He couldn't see the source through the trees, however, it did distract him long enough to where he did not see or hear the approaching Ursa, coming up from behind him, and didn't notice it until it had cast a shadow in front of him. He sprang up, rolling forward out of the brush, getting to his feet he spun around and quickly re-aimed his arrow, shooting it clean through the Ursa's skull, the dust tip exploding outward, disintegrating the monster from the inside out. However this action had taken him dangerously close to the one he had been trying to sneakily kill at first, and as he looked behind him he saw the beast winding up his arm for a downward slash. 

As quickly as he could manage he ducked and spun around, his bow transforming into his two short swords so he could thrust them above his head, blocking the slash from the Grimm. However, as he stood, forcing the monster's weight off of himself, he turned to slash at the monster only to hear what sounded like a rush of energy as an orb of blue glowing aura slammed into the back of the beast. It howled in pain before falling to the ground and turning to smoke until it had disappeared, Bronzine looking through the smoke to see the woman who would become his partner. 

She was shorter than he was, around five and a half feet tall with long flowing pink hair and crystal blue eyes. Her hair was so long in fact that it flowed all the way down her back and ended just past her butt, pulled up in a ponytail. She wore a pink and black striped hoodie with fur lining the hood and a pair of blue skinny jeans which flowed down into her matching high tops, checkered in pink and black. He saw her lower her hand, presuming that that was where the blast of blue energy had come from, before speaking up. 

“Out of everybody on that cliff it had to be one of the freaks,” she rolled her eyes before walking up to him and sizing him up. “I guess you'll have to do,” she sighed as she eyed him up and down. 

"Uh, nice to meet you too?" He thought out loud with a smirk, "Someone wakes up on the wrong side of the bed?" 

“Ugh this is gonna be a long day,” she sighed again before walking past him and heading back into the trees. “Come on then,” she grumbled out before Bronzine shrugged his shoulders and reluctantly followed her. “What's your name?” She asked sternly. 

“Bronzine,” he grumbled. “What's yours?”

"Rosaria Avalon," she replied, "Don't forget it. What's your semblance?" She asked as if interrogating him. 

“Haven't unlocked it yet,” he admitted quietly before she rolled her eyes and looked back ahead of them shaking her head. 

"Of course not," she complained, looking to the sky and raising her hands out in front of her, groaning toward the sky. "Why would you, that would be too easy," she shouted lightly before sighing and continuing through the brush. 

"Well, what's yours? How'd you do that back there?" 

“Aura manipulation,” she sighed.

"You must have a lot of it if you can run around blasting Grimm like that?" He wondered aloud but she never answered him. 

After a few moments of silence she began to speak again, “Couldn't have your hot wolf friend OH NO that would be too good,” she let out as he cocked his head to one side. 

“Huh, wouldn't have picked you as the Faunus loving type,” he smirked to himself.

“Who said anything about love?” she questioned looking back to him with her face scrunched up as if she was disgusted by his words. “I said he was hot.”

“Ya well for your information he hasn't unlocked his semblance either so boo hoo,” he rolled his eyes, beginning to realize just how long the rest of his four years at this school was going to be. “Are you just gonna be like this forever cus if so tell me now.”

“Huh,” she huffed before looking back ahead of them, forging through the forest in silence until the two finally reached a clearing, once again hearing several Grimm surrounding them in the trees. As the two took a ready stance they found themselves back to back. “At least you're decent in a fight,” she sighed before the monsters revealed themselves, charging from the brush at them. 

“Man I hope the others are doing better than this.”

/

Olivier had been wandering the forest alone for what had felt like nearly half an hour. She couldn't believe that she hadn't run into anyone else and it was starting to sour her mood, knowing all too well that if she didn't stay positive she would be fighting even more Grimm than the few she had already run into. "Man am I going the wrong way or what?" She asked out loud, clear frustration in her dainty, ladylike voice. As she walked she fought to keep her balance, always able to keep up her ladylike posture as she walked across the uneven ground in her heels. She had seen plenty of girls fail to walk on dirt in much shorter heels than her own, and much thicker heels also. 

There it was again though, the growls of at least one approaching Beowulf, snapping her out of her concentration, whirling around to find the beast charging at her from where she had come from. She stopped in her tracks and pressed her thumbs into two buttons on the straps of her backpack, the device transforming, changing from a backpack into much smaller telescopic pieces which stretched down her legs and arms. 

As it passed each of her joints, it would leave behind a circular node, including her knees, elbows and the palms of her hands, each of them glowing red as they completed their transformations. As the Grimm finally reached her she crouched quickly, dodging the swipe it had aimed at her head, before hurling a kick upward at the beast, connecting with its chest and knocking it slightly into the air before she stood and spun quickly, her elbow colliding with the falling Grimm's torso solidly. As it did, what sounded like the blast of a shotgun would be heard as the node on her elbow ejected dozens of small dust pellets into the monster, mimicking the spread of the firearm each node had been designed after. 

The Grimm was tossed backward into the air several feet, though before it had the chance to land and recover, Olivier had sprinted around it until she faced it's back, thrusting her palm forward into the monster's spine and again, setting off the node on her palm into it's back, the creature dying upon receiving so much damage to its spine. With the flick of her wrist, the weapon changed back into its backpack form and she wiped her brow, fixing her hair and continuing through the brush as if the encounter had never happened. 

Pressing onward she eventually came out of the woods, finding herself at the foot of what appeared to be a ruined fort or castle. The ramparts were extremely tall with what was left of several bridges and supports, crumbling in their disrepair. In the distance, she could see the back wall of a circular stone building but figured that the castle would be a much better hiding place for the relics their new headmaster had sent them to retrieve. As she walked across the old stone bridges toward the main tower she could hear the stone groaning, tiptoeing softly across the rest of the way until she finally had made it to the doorway of the large stone tower. 

As she walked inside she could barely see, retrieving her scroll from her pant pocket and activating its flashlight she shone it around the large empty room, finding nothing but a ruined staircase and old ruined wooden remains of crates and chests. "Well, I guess this isn't the place then?" She sighed to herself before turning around and nearly screaming, seeing another girl in the doorway with her hand outstretched and her mouth hanging open, as if she had been about to say something. Before Liv could register that the stranger was a student she activated her weapon, the girl watching the nodes extend down her body before throwing her hands up in the air. 

“Sorry!” She spat out quickly, “I didn't mean to scare you I just saw you walk in here and came to find you,” she pleaded, Olivier calming down and looking the girl over. She had very deep green eyes, nearly looking brown in the dark room. Her hair was indeed deep brown and styled in a braided crown atop her head. She wore simple brown combat boots with green leggings, a brown knee length skirt and a green and brown unbuttoned plaid flannel with the sleeves rolled up over a graphic tee. 

Her features were much softer than Liv's were, looking far less exotic than she or Ambur, much more innocent than Liv's more defined facial features. “Huh...” Liv sighed as she deactivated her weapon and placed a hand over her heart, calming herself before talking. “Don't sneak up on people like that jeez,” she huffed before walking over to the girl and stepping out into the light of day with her walking beside her. 

“I didn't mean to I just wasn't sure if I really saw someone, I thought maybe you were a ghost,” she admitted with an innocent smile, getting a small laugh out of Liv. "What's your name?" She asked before she began to fish around in her shirt pocket for something. Liv took the opportunity to seize the girl up now that they were side by side, noticing that as usual, the girl was much taller than she was. Her boots had short wedged heels in them but even without them, the girl was probably around five foot eight or so. 

“Olivier,” she said with a smile before extending her hand to the girl who gladly took it with her free hand and shook. “What about you? Have you not found a partner yet,” she asked a she quickly looked around and the girl finally was able to get the item she was looking for out of her pocket. 

“I'm Gretchen, Gretchen Reinhardt,” she smiled back before showing Olivier what she had been trying to grab. “I think you and I were the last ones to pair up cus I already found the relic and everyone else who was there,” she pointed to the circular stone building that Liv had opted not to go to first, “already had a partner,” she blushed. “Sorry if you wanted to pick the relic,” she said softly before handing the chess piece to Liv, a White bishop piece. 

"Oh no don't worry about it I'm just glad you found me or else I would have been searching those towers forever," she laughed before handing the girl back the piece to hang on to before looking at the weapon stashed on her back. It appeared to be the stock and trigger system from a shotgun with the cylinder from a revolver rather than an ammo tube, with a short barrel, though Olivier could tell the barrel was folded down and not at its full length. "So whatcha got there?" She asked curiously, her partner answering quickly having seen Liv look the device up and down for several seconds. 

She reached back and took hold of the weapon, the stock being narrow and round enough for her to hold the weapon upright in one hand before pressing a small button between the stock and trigger, the short barrel transforming into a much longer silver single-edged blade with a newly lengthened barrel resting atop it. "Gun blade, nice and simple," she replied with a smile, "Nothing as complicated as whatever you were about to shoot me with," she giggled before watching Liv shrug and blush. 

“Well I think it's pretty cool,” She complimented, “Does it have a name?”

“I just call it Reinhardt,” she smiles before returning the weapon to her back, “What about you? I saw all those nodes on your joints are they like, pressure activated?”

"Yep, shotgun blasts from physical strikes. Both of our weapons have 'heart' in their name," she laughs before turning her back to Gretchen for a moment to show her backpack to her, the girl quickly finding a golden nameplate on the bag labeled 'Isenheart,' before she turned back to the direction they were walking. 

“Wow!” Gretchen exclaimed in surprise, “Meant to be,” she laughed out at the irony. 

"I guess it was," Liv laughed in agreement as they two girls came upon the small building, finding several of the students crowded around it, picking pieces and beginning to break apart and head back toward the cliffs. Among them, she found Bronzine and his apparent new partner seemingly ready to start walking back through the forest. "Bronzine!" She called over to him, waving her arm in the air as he turned his head to acknowledge her. 

"Hey Liv," he smiled as he had never smiled before, so happy for someone to interrupt his new partner's constant complaining. "I see she found you," he commented as he pointed to Gretchen who nodded her head in response. 

“Yep, not a ghost,” she laughed out before Liv spoke again. 

"Ya, she did and thank god I would have been searching those ruins all day. See you found yourself a partner too?" She asked, baiting the pink haired girl to turn around and face her. As she did Liv could see the immediate scowl on her face. 

“Oh look the losers friends showed up, great!” She complains before rolling her florescent blue eyes at Olivier and turning to walk away back into the forest. 

Liv was appalled, having been brought up with such a high standard for manners had not prepared her well to deal with people with that kind of attitude. As soon she was out of earshot Liv spoke again as she saw Bronzine's shoulders sag as he sighed, "What a bitch," she whispered out, shocked. 

“Oh you have no idea,” Bronzine whined before taking a deep breath. “She's been like that ever since I ran into her. Feel bad for whoever we get put with on a team with honestly because I think she's gonna be like that for a damn long time.” As he finished he turned to go, “But she is my partner and I can't let her go wandering off alone, it'll look bad if she shows up without me you know? Come on we should all be getting back anyway.”

The two girls followed Bronzine and Rosaria into the forest, catching up with the male to continue talking to him. “So did you see Ambur and Mydnight?” She asked.

"No, we saw pretty much everyone else though." 

“I hope they made it,” she comments, a hint of worry in her voice. 

"I think they did when we got there pretty much every other pairing was already there except Ambur and Mydnight. I think they may have become partners and beat all of us to the relics. Hell, they are probably back at the cliff already knowing him." 

"Wow, he really doesn't mess around huh?" Gretchen adds before Bronzine laughs. 

"No, not really. That's why he needs me, to help him relax and have fun. Without me around he'd be all business all the time and what fun would that be?" He gave a big smile as he turned to them and began to walk backward with his arms folded behind his head. 

“Hm,” Liv smiled thoughtfully, “of course.”

As the students eventually made their way back to the cliff and found their way up it they were all not the least bit surprised to find Mydnight and Ambur atop it, as they had expected to. The entire group made it's way into the dining hall again to eat lunch. The class had been broken up into several small groups to undertake the day's challenge of team placement since there were far too many students to monitor at the same time in one big group challenge. Not to mention there weren't enough chess pieces lying around in Ozpin's office for something like that. As the six students ate together they began to chat, trying to get to know one another much better now that they were all partners. 

“So what took yall so long?” Mydnight teased as he dug into his food. 

"Look not all of us are as badass as you are okay?" Bronzine laughed back, "Can't kill Grimm with the same finesse as you." 

“Oh that's what took you so long,” Mydnight laughed again, the entire group looking to him in confusion before Ambur spoke up to answer their questions timidly. 

“We uh...we didn't run into any Grimm,” she smiled out with a blush as she tucked her hair behind her ear. 

“Ugh what? Not a single one?” Olivier retorted in disbelief. 

“Not a one,” Mydnight replied with a satisfied smile on his face, looking around the group to see pouts on everyone's faces. All except Rosa who seemed to be more impressed than jealous. 

"Well, that just means you have a better handle on your emotions than the rest of us huh?" She complimented as her bright blue eyes looked him all over. Bronzine was the most shocked out of the entire group at his partner's words. 

“Did you just...say something nice?” He joked before he felt her elbow him in ribs, coughing once in shock before she ran her thumb and index finger across her lips, telling him silently to zip it. 

After a few moments of silence, the subject was changed. "So we've got the Signal Academy crew right?" Mydnight asked aloud, gesturing to himself Ambur and Bronzine. "Where is everyone else from?" 

Rosa spoke first, as if she had been waiting to answer questions as long as they came from the wolf teen's mouth, “Vacuo,” she rolled her eyes, “It's SO much nicer here, so glad my family decided to move here after high school,” she stressed before the others spoke up. 

“Anima,” Liv said as she spread her napkin out over her lap and began to delicately cut herself some food from the large platters. She seemed quiet for a moment as the others waited for more information. She took notice of this and reluctantly continued on, “My family runs a vineyard north of Mistral so,” she said quietly before taking a bite of her food and chewing it all the way and swallowing before continuing. “They were able to afford to send me out here instead of Haven.”

“Wait a minute,” Gretchen holds up her pointer finger as she seems to recall some information that had slipped her mind. “Olivier what? Which vineyard, there aren't very many north of Mistral,” she asked as if she already knew the answer. 

Olivier sighed, knowing she now had to answer the question and that at the very least her partner seemed to know. “Antoinette,” she groaned out as Gretchen's jaw dropped and out of everyone else at the table only Mydnight seemed to have heard the name before as his ears perked up and he stopped chewing his food, his mouth hanging open for a moment before he snapped out of his stupor and swallowed his food as Gretchen spoke up. 

“You're...Olivier Antoinette?!” She asked excitedly, “Antoinette Vineyard?!”

"Huh...yesss...don't make a big thing out of it," Liv sighed as she rested her head in her hands. 

"Make a big thing out of it? Your family makes the most popular wine on the planet Liv," Mydnight laughed out. 

“Yes well,” She begins quietly as she glances at her partner and then over to Mydnight, “I came here to write my own story where I wouldn't be in my parents shadow so if you would please, just not say things like that it would be really appreciated,” she let out sternly. 

Everyone in the group seemed to contemplate her words for a moment before nodding their heads or shrugging their shoulders and going back to their food. “Thank you,” she spoke to them gently. “I take it that means you're from Anima too then?” She asked her partner. 

“Yeah I am,” Gretchen smiled before continuing, “West of Mistral but pretty close to the city thankfully.”

As the students talk into the late afternoon they notice the dining hall filling up more and more with students who have finished their challenges in the Emerald Forest. Eventually, once the room seems to be filled to capacity they all hear a voice come over the school's intercom system, Glynda's voice filling the room as she spoke to them all. 

“All freshmen students to the auditorium for team placement please, all trials have been completed at this time.”

As the six students looked back to each other they all stood from their seats and began to file out of the room, staying together so they could all sit together for the ceremony. As they entered the auditorium they all felt a sense of nervousness wash over them before stepping forward and finding seats, Olivier the only one able to muster words on the situation as their hundreds of classmates took their seats. 

“Here we go.”

_End of Chapter_


	4. Volume 1 Chapter 4: Birds of a Color

"Olivier Antoinette, Gretchen Reinhardt, Caroline Turner, and Hunter Allagash," they all heard as Liv and Gretchen stood, walking up to the stage and finding their two new teammates along the way. As they stood together on the stage their mug shots and the first letter of their first names appeared above their pictures. "You four retrieved the white bishop pieces and from now on, will be known as Team OCHR," he announced before looking down to Olivier. "Led by, Olivier Antoinette," he smiled to her, taking notice that she didn't seem surprised at all, but also did not look happy about the announcement. She simply nodded her head and looked to her team who were congratulating her, putting on a fake smile for them as she studied her two new teammates whom she had somehow avoided all contact within the forest. 

Caroline and Hunter seemed to already know each other quite well and were already holding hands, Liv had to assume that they already knew each other but would have to investigate later. She had dirty blonde hair and his' was much darker brown, almost black with a fohawk hair cut whereas Caroline's hair was in one long thick braid. 

He wore a plain black t-shirt with blue jeans and his eyes were very dark, matching his hair, while hers were a very light green and she wore a light green dress with brown tights and green flats for shoes. As they walked off the stage they joined the students already on teams and looked back to their friends across the room before they were called up. 

“Bronzine Rustwing, Rosaria Avalon, Ambur Magnaria and Mydnight...” Ozpin stopped for only a moment realizing that he had not prepared an adequate lie for this particular moment and was forced to make one up on the spot. He only paused for a moment but it was enough to make it seem like he had made a mistake in front of the students, and Mydnight knew exactly why. “Branwen,” he finished as the four students made it up to the stage and their pictures showed up with their first initials listed. 

“The four of you retrieved the black rook pieces, and from now on you will be known as Team AMBR,” as he said this Ambur's face especially looked surprised and shocked, predicting his next words. “Led by, Ambur Magnaria,” he said with a smile as her jaw dropped and Rosa's fists clenched.

"W-what?" Her stutter was back as she began to sweat under the spotlight, up in front of all the students in her class. "M...me?" 

Rosa had no choice but to bite her tongue. Over the past few hours, it had become very clear to her at least that Ambur was far too shy to be leading anybody anywhere. It burned her so badly, out of everyone Ambur had been chosen. If she was being honest with herself she would have rather had Bronzine be their team leader even with how much his jokes annoyed her. 

"Congratulations young lady," he said to her confidently before shooing them off the stage so he could give his final speech of the night, the new group finding their way through the crowd to Olivier, the smaller girl immediately giving Ambur a hug as she congratulated her friend, trying to hide her own feelings about being a leader deep down within her mind. As the speech came and went the students were filed out of the auditorium and each was sent a message on their scrolls with their new room numbers. Having expected to be split up the group was surprised to find that OCHR and AMBR's rooms were right across the hall from one another. 

As they stuffed their bags inside their rooms they left their doors open and each team began to mingle with one another, helping each other re-arrange the rooms and decorate as they all saw fit, well, all except Rosaria who had elected to simply unpack her suitcases in silence with a pair of headphones on for the duration. Mydnight could feel her watching him though and every time he turned to face her he caught a glimpse of her eyes darting away from him and back to what she was doing. 

Eventually, Bronzine spoke up and caught all of their attention as he got further and further down his packed items, producing a set of small wireless speakers which he sat atop their bookshelf. "Well, Ambur would you like to do the honors?" He asked with a smirk on his face, his shy leader happily nodding her head as she took her scroll out and began to stream music from her collection for both rooms to enjoy. 

She could tell that Mydnight, in particular, enjoyed her selections, still overwhelmed by the fact they both had the same exact favorite song by the same artist. They both caught each other singing along several times to whatever song happened to come on over Ambur's scroll, even when the song wasn't by Williams. She couldn't believe how much they seemed to have in common and she began to kick herself for how long it had taken her to muster up the courage to finally talk to him. 'And now we are sharing a room together,' she thought to herself as it finally sank in that she would suddenly be sleeping the same room as him every single night from now on for the next four years. Her face turned bright pink and she began to space out, staring into her suitcase as her mind wandered. 

She had never considered that something like this could ever happen. It was all happening so fast and she began to worry that she would somehow screw it all up, chewing on her fingernails in fear of her own clumsiness. Not to mention that she had been named the leader of her team! How was she supposed to deal with both of those things at the same time, it was just going to be too overwhelming. 

As the afternoon flew by the students eventually finished decorating and personalizing their corners of their rooms and doors became closed as their leaders decided it would be a good time to learn about their respective teams. Ambur, of course, was nervous but she took a deep breath and tried to start up the conversation. 

"So..." She began softly, "I know that I'm not the most...extroverted person around but I...uhm..." she let out as she looked around the room to her teammates, "I'm gonna really try to be approachable for you guys you know?" The boys nodded their head in agreement but Ambur could tell Rosaria was still fuming about Ambur being picked as their leader. "So I guess we should start by getting to know each other a little better...the guys and I spent last night talking so I guess we can start if that's..okay?" 

Rosa rested her chin in her hands as she rolled her eyes and slouched on her bed, “Yeah fine go ahead,” she let out.

As the three friends explained everything to Rosa that they had chatted about over the last day she seemed to come in and out of a trance, as if not listening to everything they were saying. It didn't surprise Bronzine of course because he had already spent time with her alone and he knew how badly she tended to act. 

However, as Mydnight began to speak she actually looked toward him and seemed to not only listen to him but listen intently. She seemed to linger on every word he said, Ambur watching her as she sat and slowly her mood lifted as he continued on. Ambur was glad though, thinking that somehow the group had finally gotten through to their unknown teammate over the course of all telling her about themselves and hadn't considered that it was only Mydnight that she was actually interested in. 

 

“Well I uh...grew up with Qrow raising me,” he began, seeming almost uncomfortable as he spoke, “Qrow's my...Uncle,” he said softly. 

“Well does that mean...”Ambur began as she digested his statement with worry in her voice, her hand raised over her mouth.

"Ya, I uh..." he began with a forced smile, "I didn't really ever know my parents so that makes it a bit easier I suppose." 

The girls looked to him with sadness filling their faces as they saw Bronzine not reacting in any way at all, figuring he had already known. “I'm s-sorry,” Ambur breathed out in disbelief. She couldn't believe she had been watching him for so long without knowing this information. 

“It's okay, really don't,” he shakes his head with a smirk, “Don't worry about it like I said It's not like I lost them I just...never knew them. Ya know?”

Ambur could tell that her partner was holding something back in the way he moved but she decided to not press the matter, not wishing to make him uncomfortable. 

"Qrow eventually got me into Signal and I started staying on campus. Usually, students can't do that at Signal but an exception was made. School sucked at first cus well," he trails off before pointing down to his tail which was slowly shifting back and forth beside him on the bed. "Not really so easy to blend in around here." 

Bronzine and Ambur knew all too well what he meant, however, Rosa didn't seem to fully understand the extent of what he was talking about. "Well...what do you mean?" She asked genuinely. "Are Faunus still treated that bad around here?" She asked with surprise in her voice. 

"Ya they are," Bronzine confirmed before smiling and resting his hands behind his head and laying back on his mattress, "but bullies tend to back off when you show them you could cut them in half at a moment's notice don't they?" He chuckled out, remembering the first time Mydnight had stood up for himself. It hadn't taken long, of course, the wolf boy was no pushover and had very quickly put his mockers in their place no more than two days into his first week at the school. 

“And when your uncle is known for being one of the strongest huntsmen around,” it was Mydnight's turn to smirk before turning his attention back to Rosa. “Is it not that bad in Vacuo?”

“No,” she reacted again with surprise in her voice, “Not at all. People say Mistral is the safest place for Faunus to mingle with humans and maybe they are right but...Vacuo is a much closer second place than people think. Sure everyone is getting paid to take less than reputable jobs but people are treated equally for the most part. Whether that means everyone is treated like crap or like family depends on the day really.”

“Well that's good I guess,” Mydnight breaths out, “maybe someday Vale will get there but I doubt it'll be in my lifetime.”

As the room begins to experience an awkwardly long silence Ambur scrambles to pull her scroll out of her pocket, trying to change the subject. “So u-uhm,” she begins as she pulls up her schedule, “Did everyone look at what classes we have?”

"Ya, I guess we should probably go over that considering classes start in the morning," Rosa groaned. 

“Well I've actually already been texting Liv about it and we actually have a few classes together,” she smiled before Rosa spoke again, her voice filled with sarcasm.

“Woo...yay,” she rolled her eyes. 

The two boys could just laugh it off before they refocused on their leader and began to listen to their scheduled classes. After a while, more of talking Mydnight finally stands up and pulls his scroll out checking the time before looking around the room. "Getting kinda hungry, anyone else want anything?" As he looked around the room he noticed that only one person seemed interested in his endeavor, his partner, looking back at him with a shy nod. 

"Not really hungry yet," Rosa sighed before pulling out her own scroll and getting lost in its glow before Bronzine replied. 

"Nah go ahead," Bronzine answered before Ambur stood up and gave him a nervous smile, "Uhm, I'll go," she raised her hand up slightly before Mydnight smiled back to her and nodded toward the door as he began to walk toward it, opening it and motioning for her to come with him. As they left he closed the door behind them before they began walking down the long hallways of the bunkhouse. They could hear all the other teams in their rooms chatting and bickering amongst themselves. He didn't expect anyone else would be eating yet but Mydnight had a hefty appetite and more often than most other people normally would. After all, they had only eaten lunch a few hours earlier and with the nature of the seemingly unlimited food during meals, most students often left the dining hall completely stuffed. 

This did in fact usually include Ambur, however, she was keen to spend as much time with Mydnight as she possibly could, if that meant forcing down a meal just to spend some time away from the group with him then it was a sacrifice she was willing to make. As they walked she heard Mydnight strike up a conversation again as he shoved his hands in the pockets of his coat. 

“So how does it feel huh? You seem nervous,” he smirked as he looked over to his partner. 

“Wh..well it is...very nerve raking actually...I really can't imagine why he picked me,” she sighed as she wrapped her arms around her front shyly. “You would make a much better leader than I would,” she tried to suggest. 

“Hah,” he laughed, “Well I doubt that.”

She gave him a confused look, “Why do you say that?”

"I'm not...really the leader type," he shrugged as he gave her a thoughtful smile, "You may be shy but you still handle people better than I do." 

“Well...I don't know about that,” she mimicked him with a small smirk. “I mean I did...notice you never seemed to talk with anybody at Signal...except Bronzine of course. You seemed to distance yourself from people a lot.”

“Keeping an eye on me huh?” He laughed before she stopped in her tracks and her cheeks flushed bright red.

"NO!" She blurted out, much too loud, forcing him into a full on laughing fit, "I mean...Ye-...I just meant that-" she trailed off, unsure of what to say before he came back and retrieved her back taking her hand in his and continuing down the path. Her cheeks were on fire as she looked down to their hands, wide-eyed and never so nervous in her life. 

"I was only joking," he chuckled out as she worked as hard as she could to not trip over her own feet, walking beside him through the large open courtyard of the school. Her legs felt like jelly and her heart was pounding in her ears as she tried as hard as she could to keep any semblance of her cool, following him before she finally was able to keep up and walk beside her partner. As she began to walk alongside him however she felt his grip on her loosen before his hand left hers and went back down into his pocket. 

Part of her was relieved and another part of her was sad as she clenched her now free hand over and over again, her skin burning for the touch of his, knowing all too well that she wouldn't be able to feel it again any time soon unless she got lucky. Her head was swimming with emotion after this crazy set of days had flown right by. Getting put on a team with the boy she had been crushing on for as long as she had first seen him quickly rose to the top of her emotional list of events, her thoughts roaming as she couldn't seem to take his eyes off of him. "Wha....Why wouldn't you...wanna be a leader?" She finally is able to get out, trying to work on her ever-present stutter. 

 

“Well,” he thought aloud, “I honestly don't think I would be any good at it because I have never been responsible for anything in my entire life,” he admitted, taking Ambur by surprise. “I've never had to look out for someone else, never had chores, never had a job or played a team sport, nothing. So I think if I was thrown into your position I really wouldn't know what to do, ya know?”

“Y-ya I...guess that makes sense,” she said back quietly. “You really never had to do anything like that at all?”

“Nah not really. Like I guess I had to keep my room clean enough but no one ever came around and said 'Hey Mydnight clean up your room,' so really it was only ever clean enough for me to make it around the room and for me to find things that I needed.”

“Huh,” she sighed before smiling over to her partner and bumping her fist lightly into his shoulder, “Well I guess I'll have to keep you from making a huge mess of the dorm room then huh?” She teased. 

“Hah,” he began to laugh before settling back down, “Ya I guess you'll have to.” He ran his hand through his messy black hair before looking over to her, his fangs peeping out of his lips as he smiled, “I shouldn't be THAT bad though.”

Her heart skipped a beat as she looked into his wicked looking smile. The fangs really made the young man seem crazy combined with his smirk but it made Ambur swoon. Everything about him called out to her and now that she was closer than she ever had been it was hard for her to keep focus, losing herself in him over and over again as they finally made it to the dining hall. He held the door for her as she stepped inside, forcing her to walk in front of him as she looked to the floor, watching her own feet glide over the tile floor as she thought to herself. 

Liv's words flashed through her mind as she began to realize that she was, in fact, tiptoeing around as softly as she could. She glanced back to him over her shoulder finding his attention elsewhere, looking around the room at the different cafeteria lines for the kind of food he was in the mood for. 

She silently cursed her semblance for what it had done to her over the past several years, molding her into the shy quiet girl she had become. It hadn't always been this way, and now that she wanted to keep her crush's attention on her she would need to find ways to start breaking out of the shell she had spent so much time building around herself. 'You're tiptoeing,' she heard in her mind again, the words playing on repeat in her new friend's voice. 'Strrrrut,' she heard Liv's voice in her head again as Ambur began to imagine the way that she had briefly shown her how to walk, Olivier's hips swinging back and forth in her mind. 

'Olivier doesn't have much to work with but the way she walked sure made it look like she did...' Ambur thought to herself before a small wave of guilt washed over her. 'Wow okay rude Ambur don't say things like that,' she thought again before shaking her head and getting back on task. However, before she could get back to her train of thought she heard Mydnight speak up. 

“So what do you feel like snacking on?” He thought aloud as they stopped and looked around the room. Her vision flew back up to his face, again looking away from her, reading different menu's. Her eyes moved to those menu's as well, trying to think of something to suggest. 

“W-well,” she began quietly, “How hungry are you? Meal or snack?”

“Hmmm asking the real questions here,” he chuckled before thinking, “Kind of in between.”

“Well then how about like a....sandwich or a burger? With no sides?” She thought out loud, accidentally making herself in more hungry at the thought. “Those are over in that line,” she pointed as his eyes followed the direction of her finger and she saw him lick his elongated k-nines. 

“Mmm ya let's do that good idea,” he held his hand out to her for a high five. It took Ambur more than a moment to finally smack her own hand against his, trying to make sure that she didn't hit it too hard or too soft. It was a constant battle every time she touched anything at this point in her life. 

After ordering and receiving their food the two sit down across from each other at the long dining hall tables and get to eating, both of them having ordered remarkably similar burgers. "You hate tomatoes?" She barely got out as she chuckled and struggled to keep her bite of food in her mouth as he did the same. 

“Ya man they are gross,” he retorted before sticking his nose up, “Smell like shit too,” he laughed after swallowing. “So,” he began more quietly as he changed the subject from food and back to getting to know her. “What about you huh?”

“What about me?” She asked as she blushed, thankful that he was taking interest in her, even if it was just because he was getting to know his new team leader and partner. 

"Well, what do you...do for fun I guess, what's Ambur like when she's not hiding from her classmates?" He smiled as he rested his cheek in his hand. 

“We-well I...” She began as she thought how to respond. “I...like to watch sports which I guess is a little unique for a girl...uhmm,” she thought again as she saw him nod his head. 

“Ya? Like which ones? Play any?”

"Ya I..." she trailed off as she looked down to her plate and began to fidget, "Used t-to play volleyball actually," she admitted but didn't seem at all happy about it and Mydnight could tell she was shying away from the subject but his curiosity just couldn't be quelled. 

“Well that sounds cool, I bet you were pretty good at it huh? You're really built for that,” he thought aloud before continuing, “Why'd you stop?”

Ambur was silent for a long time before resting her hands on the table out in front of her, taking a deep breath before speaking again, “I uh...I wasn't allowed...to play anymore,” she looked up to him briefly and gave him a brief fake smile and shrugged her shoulders.

Mydnight squinted his eyes before looking down to her hands, watching her fidget as the gears in his mind began to turn, before he realized the sad truth. His jaw dropped slightly before he looked back up into her eyes, “I'm sorry...” he apologized, “that must have been hard to deal with...”

Ambur exhaled deeply, thankful that her partner had taken her meaning and figured it out for himself so that she didn't have to say it out loud. “I'm really just getting a handle on it now...” she sighed, “It's always there I don't...really turn it on and off you know?” She looked up to his eyes again shyly, watching him nod his head. “They felt that it was sort of...cheating...and I guess it kind of was...”

“That...really sucks,” he replies slowly, not sure of what to tell her. “So...did you always want to be a huntress or did your semblance kind of...nudge you toward it?”

“Well I played on Signal's team for a little less than a season before it kicked in so, I was already going to combat school. I just had a knack for it, I never intended to be anybody's hero but...now I...I feel sort of...obligated to be here.” 

“I guess that's fair...I know you said before that you try not to use your semblance very often but...maybe if you did you would learn to control it better and maybe you could play again?”

“You may be right but...I would still feel like I was cheating if I could suddenly spike the ball so hard it would go through some other girl's arm...What if I was so desperate to win that I hurt someone by accident? It's not worth it...” She let out softly before taking another bite. 

"Hmmm," he hummed to himself, thinking over her statement. "Ya, that's true." 

“You are right though,” she let out, re-grabbing his attention, “If I'm gonna become a huntress then I do need to train my semblance and get used to it but...the fact is that there isn't anyone that I can train it against.”

“You're THAT strong?” He questioned as he lifted his eyebrow. 

"Huh," she sighed as she stood from her seat and he gave her a confused look before she looked around, seeing that there were no other students around and making sure that the staff behind the counters were too busy to look her way. She placed her right hand on the edge of their heavy wooden table, grabbing onto it tightly before effortlessly lifting it several inches off the ground to his surprise. 

“Wow,” he reacted, his ears and tail twitching as he marveled at her strength. “You don't even look like you're trying.”

“I'm not,” she sighed before putting the table back down as gently as she could and sitting back in her seat. 

“Well...shit then if you're looking for some way to train your semblance and push your limits why don't you pick up weight lifting?” He thought out loud before shoving the last bite of his burger into his mouth. 

"Well, then I..." she started before trying to pick her words carefully, "Then I'd be really muscular and guys don't like that..." 

“Hah,” he began to laugh before swallowing, struggling not to choke on his food, “Says who? Besides you shouldn't lead your entire life according to 'what guys like,'” he adds as he motions air quotes with his fingers. “Do what's best for YOU, then the right guy will find you,” he smiles as she looks at him, captivated by his genuine advice, her cheeks flushing red as a smile crept over her face. 

“Do...do you really think so?”

_End of Chapter_


	5. Volume 1 Chapter 5: Acceptance

'Whack,' Mydnight heard as his ears twitched up, pulling him out of his dazed state as the piece of folded paper collided with the back of his leather jacket. He barely felt it of course but the sound it had made was loud enough for just about anyone in the room to hear it. He turned to look as he found Bronzine looking away from him and rubbing the back of his neck innocently, though Mydnight could see the rubber band on the table in front of him with which he had shot the paper wasp. The sound attracted the attention of both of their teammates, Ambur seated in the row with Bronzine and Rosa seated beside Mydnight on the lower row. 

Ambur groaned before reaching over and taking the rubber band from him, before stretching it out across his arm while he still wasn't looking, and snapped it across the outside of his arm before shoving it in her pocket with a smirk. Bronzine's hand flew to his mouth as he kept himself from yelling in pain as he shot her a dirty look and Mydnight was barely able to contain his laughter. As the group settled back down and their attention focused back to the lecture, Ambur continued pretending to write notes about Professor Oobleck's lesson as she doodled in her notebook, occasionally looking down to where Mydnight sat in front of her. 

As she sat and watched him Bronzine began to suspect that she wasn't paying attention to the lesson at all, following her eyes down to his friend, causing him to roll his eyes before grumbling and focusing back on the lesson himself. Olivier sat on Ambur's other side with Gretchen beside her and both girls seemed to actually be rather invested in what the professor had to say. Ambur had tried on several occasions to get Liv to relax a bit but she had turned out to be quite the no-nonsense student. 

The girls had been studying together and Ambur was becoming more and more thankful each day that Liv took such good notes since Ambur could never follow what Oobleck was trying to say. He was just too much for her, far too in your face and quick for Ambur, they existed at very different speeds. Not to mention of course that over the past weeks it had become increasingly difficult to keep her eyes off of her new partner. Being so close to Mydnight all the time had put her into somewhat of a fog, where she knew not how to get his attention, but also could not get her own attention off of him. 

Thankfully it hadn't affected her grades too much, as she had always been a decent enough student, but she often found herself concocting new ideas to impress Mydnight, rather than thinking up new ways to interact with her entire team. 

She was however snapped out of her trance and a wave of dread washed over her as it often had in this class as she watched Rosa rip a small piece of paper out from her notebook and slide it across the table over to Mydnight. She couldn't help herself, watching him smirk while reading her message, too small and far away for Ambur to peak before passing it back to her with his own message on it. It sickened her, watching this happen every time this class came up, watching Mydnight talk to another girl in private right in front of her, completely oblivious that she had these feelings for him. 

All the while Ambur became more and more jealous of Rosaria as the weeks came and went. She was so much more ladylike than Ambur, a much smaller build, better at presenting herself and she wasn't the least bit shy. Rosa never hesitated to get changed in the morning with the two boys in the room while Ambur tried her best to never be seen by anyone, not even the other girls in the locker room down the hall. She seemed so confident on top of the fact that Ambur thought she was beautiful, and because of how shy Ambur was she was never up to the task of asking Mydnight what he thought of their other teammate, or what they talked about while passing notes in class. But every time one handed the other a note, the receiver would smile and it burned Ambur to the bone. 

As the school bell rang however she was pulled out of her trance, watching all the other students get up, having already packed their belongings up in preparation for the bell. As she sighed and students filed out she felt a hand on her shoulder, looking up to find Olivier looking down at her with a sorrowful expression. “Come on Am,” she said softly as she patted her friend on the back. They were the only two left in the room as she finally began packing her books up. “Why don't you just tell him?” 

"What am I supposed to say to him Liv..." She sighed before standing up as the girls left the classroom side by side, headed for their dorm rooms. Ambur could see Rosa and Mydnight up ahead in the hallway but knew by now that the noise from all the other students would drown her voice out so he wouldn't be able to hear them. "It's too late anyway..." 

“What do you mean it's too late?” Liv replied before speaking again, “It's never too late to tell someone how you feel. It's plain for all to see that you like that boy so why did you wait so long to tell him? Now you have to compete with Rosa.”

“Not all of us get to be confident and hot okay...” Ambur sulks. 

“Hah,” Liv fake laughed, “Please, if you would stop trying to blend in with the crowd you would be the hottest girl in the school so don't give me that,” Liv teased as she lightly elbowed her friend in the hip. 

“But...what if they are already...dating or even,” she trailed off as her stomach churned at her own thoughts.

“Okay first of all if they were banging you'd be pretty aware of it, they live in the same room as you,” Liv chuckled as Ambur pouted. 

“This isn't funny!” She huffed out as she crossed her arms under her bust. 

"Secondly, if you just ask him then he will tell you. Why would he lie about it? Knowing is better than not knowing Am." 

“Not always...” She whispered out sadly as she closed her eyes and shook her thoughts away before looking back down to her friend. “Anyway,” she began again, “What about you,” she thought aloud as she saw Liv give her a questioning look. “Weren't you supposed to go on a date like a few days ago or something? What happened with that?”

"Oh," she rolled her eyes and faked a laugh, "Ya that didn't go well at all forget about it," she waved her hand in Ambur's direction as if telling Ambur to pick a different subject. 

“Welllll...” she sighed as she racked her brain for ideas. “What are you doing tonight anyway? Busy?”

"No, not really, why?" Liv looked up with a smile, "you wanna hang?" 

“Yes...I don't wanna be in that room with those two.”

“Oh what now you can't even look at them?” Liv laughs as she gestures toward the pair they were following. As the students funneled out of the building and out into the courtyard Olivier lost sight of the two, but Ambur, able to see over the large crowd had no trouble watching Mydnight and Rosa walk all the way to the dorm building together as they finally disappeared. 

“Look you know what I mean I just...need a distraction okay. Can we go do something? Invite Gretch too I don't care, the more things to take my mind off of them the better..”

“Ya I guess, come on,” she replies as she leads her through the dorm building and up to team OCHR's room, finding Gretchen there, having just arrived before them as she was unpacking her backpack onto her bed. “Hey,” Liv greeted her partner with a smile as Gretchen did the same to the two girls. 

“Hey Gretchen,” Ambur replied shyly, still not having spent too much time around the girl since the year started. 

“Ambur and I were wondering if you wanted to do something tonight? Go out? Little Friday night fun?” Liv asked with enthusiasm.

“Oh ya?” Gretch smiled, “I could go for that, what did you have in mind though?”

“We haven't talked about it,” Ambur said quietly with a smile, “So if you have any ideas go for it.”

“Wellll,” she thought aloud as she put down what she was doing and began to look through the groups closet for a more appropriate outfit, it was getting cold after all as Fall would soon be upon them. “Do you wanna hang on campus or off?”

“Off,” Liv answers as she moves to the floor length mirror they have hung on the back of their door and checks her make up, touching up any areas she deems imperfect. 

"Well, we could go see a movie or something?" Gretchen suggests as she pulls out a heavy, light green hoodie and a pair of forest green skinny jeans to change in to, which she begins to do near her bed. 

"Works for me," Ambur agrees, just wanting to get away from the campus and away from her problems as fast as she can. "I'll go change too," she says before leaving their room and crossing the hall to her own, pausing at the door and taking a deep breath. As she turns the doorknob she prepares for the worst, only to find Mydnight alone in the room, thankfully with his jeans on as he too was in the middle of changing out of his school uniform. However, Ambur found herself awestruck as she always did, unable to look away from the wolf boy's exposed, toned upper body. 

“Hey,” he smiled as he grabbed his selected shirt from his bed and pulled it on before sitting down to pull his socks on. “What took you so long?”

"I...Uh," she shook her head before moving to their closet and looking through her clothes, "Was talking to Liv and Gretchen, we decided to go see a movie," she said aloud before realizing she had left her statement too open-ended. "Girls night kind of thing you know?" 

“Oh?” Mydnight questions, “Sounds fun. Just the three of you?”

“Ya I mean, Caroline and Hunter aren't in their room yet so we haven't asked and well,” she struggled to finish he sentence, “I doubt...Rosa would wanna hang out with us you know?” she says quietly as she grabs her outfit and heads back toward the door, intending to change in Liv's dorm. “She probably...wants to hang out with you.”

Mydnight was silent for a moment as he looked to her with confusion on his face. “Why do you say it like that?”

Ambur's hand was on the doorknob but she hesitated, looking away from him as she bit her tongue. She looked back to him before speaking again, "Well I mean I just...you guys look like you've been...getting to know each other more...recently..." she struggles to say, not sure how to explain herself. 

“Oh..” Mydnight wonders aloud before shrugging his shoulders, “I mean I...guess we have ya. That...,” he thinks aloud before looking up into her eyes and talking much more quickly, “Wait does that bother you?” He asks with seemingly genuine concern. 

"NO I," she begins loudly as she begins to panic, breathing heavily and yelling at herself in her own head before lowering her voice, "I...it's good," she forces out as a fake smile makes it way across her lips, "Ya don't worry about it, that's great," she says as she turns the doorknob and quickly makes her escape from the situation, "Anyway I gotta get going I'll see you later okay?" The words tear out of her mouth quickly before she steps outside and closes the door as fast as she can without slamming it. 

As she hesitates out in the hallway she sighs heavily as she beats herself up for the words that came out of her mouth moment before. 'Why did I say that,' she thinks to herself, 'Why the hell did I say ANY OF THAT,' she thinks again and she walks across the hall and touches her hand to Liv's doorknob again as she hears someone coming down the hallway, finding Rosa coming toward her, seemingly coming back from the locker room as she was wrapped up in no more than a towel, her long pink hair dripping wet. 

Ambur forced a smile to her teammate, the two had not been able to really get along over the past few weeks, despite Ambur's best efforts of course. She knew what the issue was, right from the first day of school Rosa had thought that Ambur had no business being their team leader she thought it should have been herself or Mydnight. Rosa made the smallest effort possible to wave to her team leader but Ambur could tell Rosa wasn't really happy to see her. 

Ambur too wasn't happy to see what state she was in, having nothing but a towel draped around herself, knowing all too well that she was likely about to flash her partner and get dressed right in front of him...or worse, Ambur began to think as she shook her head and quickly went into Liv's room, trying to chase the thoughts of her teammates out of her head. 

“You alright?” Liv asks her, breaking her out of her concentrated state, “What happened in there?”

“N...nothing I just,” she begins as she moves to stand next to Liv's bed and begins to strip her uniform off. “Just talking to Mydnight for a second, letting him know I'll be back late.”

As Ambur strips down she can feel the other girls eyes upon her, trying not to be caught. She changed as quickly as she could to cover herself back up and shoo their eyes from her body. “You know,” Liv said as she watched, “I don't think anyone on Remnant has had such a good body and hated it so much as you do,” she giggled. 

“Don't start...” Ambur whispered as she pulled her jeans up past her hips and shoved her scroll into her pocket. “You know I don't like being stared at.”

“Ya ya I know,” she rolled her eyes, “Just wishing you and I could trade bodies,” she smiled.

"Trust me...I would love to," she struggled to say as she pulled her hoodie down over her breasts, and straightened it out. "Ready?" She asked the other two girls as they nodded their heads and agreed before standing and heading out into the hallway toward the shuttle area to catch a quick flight to the city below them. 

/

Thump. Right on target, again. He wondered why he bothered to do this anymore but somewhere deep down he knew he had to to keep his eyes keen. Thump. Almost hit his previous shot that time, wouldn't want to break an arrow, these weren't easy to make after all. The few he had lost or broken over the years had been a serious struggle to replace. Just as creating the entire stock had been, to begin with. Not to mention the supplies to make them cost so much. 

But that wasn't why he was out here today, oh no, not to practice, just to get away from his partner, his new eternal nuisance. Bronzine had been losing his mind trying to keep a positive attitude around the woman and it really wasn't working. Every time they had to talk, every time they had a team exercise, every time he simply sat in his bed and tried to mind his own business. If Mydnight wasn't around that girl was horrible to deal with.

On the one hand, Bronzine was thankful that Mydnight had found a way to keep her civil when he was around, of course, he knew all too well that it was only because she had the hots for the wolf boy. 

On the other, though he saw how it had affected his friend. Mydnight was slowly becoming more and more distant with Ambur and himself as he grew close and closer to Rosaria. The two of them had been spending a lot of time alone together over the past week or two and it left a bad taste in Bronzine's mouth. But more than that he felt sorry for his leader. 

Ambur must be dealing with this so much worse than he was, he thought at least. It was plain for all to see, save for the wolf himself, that Ambur liked him as much more than a friend or a partner. Mydnight was the best friend he had ever had but he couldn't deny that the boy was incredibly dense, and not very perceptive of people's feelings at times. He couldn't blame him of course, having grown up with no siblings or parents, Mydnight was pretty devoid of love. 

Even when it came to his uncle he didn't really seem to be THAT close with him when all said and done. They would train together and they would talk but nothing on the level of a parent to a child, and they never really talked about their feelings as far as he had witnessed.

But what was he supposed to do about any of it? He didn't know. He couldn't just tell Mydnight not to date Rosa, it's not like her treating him like crap had any real substance to it, and he figured that if they actually did start dating she might try to be a little nicer around them to keep Mydnight happy. 

/ 

“So what are we seeing?” Olivier finally asks as they take their seats on the shuttle as it takes off. 

“Nothing mushy...” Ambur mumbles out as she rolls her eyes. She was at least more relaxed now that she was alone with her two friends. No one around to impress and far away from Mydnight she could actually let herself relax and focus on the moment instead of the next time she would see him. “Not in the mood to watch a girl fall in love...” She sighed as she looked out the window toward the darkening horizon. The sun had started to go down very early now that they were getting into autumn, and with how late class got out some days it could be dark by the time you reached your dorm room.

"Okay well that does narrow it down I guess," Gretchen giggled before pulling out her scroll and pulling up the website which would show them the showtimes at the theater in Vale. "So like an action movie or something? Superheroes? Always new ones of those coming out." 

“Works for me,” Liv shrugged, not actually caring what they went to see as long as it got Ambur's mind off of Mydnight. 

“Sure just pick one and we'll do that,” Ambur agreed softly as she watched the small buildings on the ground get bigger and bigger as they closed in on the city, the street lights just beginning to come on as they flew overhead. 

/

“What do you mean you gotta go?” Rosa huffed, her plans for the night having been foiled by the wolf boy insisting he had somewhere to be. 

"I'm supposed to meet Qrow in a little while," he told her again as he headed for the door, leaving his teammate completely exposed on her bed. She had come back to the room from her shower and 'accidentally' dropped her towel as she had reached her bed, clearly trying to grab his attention by doing so. He had, of course, looked on as he usually did when she showed no shame in changing in front of her team. He did find her attractive but on this one night where they seemed to be alone in their room, he did actually have places to be. "Sorry," he laughed as he looked back to her, "I'll make it up to you okay?" He smiled, his fangs creeping out of his lips as she smiled and raised her eyebrows back at him. 

“And how do you plan on doing that?” She asked as she ran her pointer finger up her outer thigh. 

"I'll think of something don't worry," he smirked before turning and leaving the room, heading down the hallway and out into the open air of the campus. He was headed for the headmaster's office, having taken much more time to think about Ozpin's offer than he had anticipated. At first, he thought it all far too crazy to go along with but as the weeks flew by his mind had changed. As he arrived in his office he found the usual suspects, Qrow, Glynda and Ozpin waiting for him. 

“I take it you've made your decision then Mr. Rose?” Ozpin asked him with curiosity filling his voice. 

Mydnight looked around to find Qrow looking back at him, seeing his older counterpart nod to him with a smile before he spoke, “Ya...I'll do it,” Mydnight said confidently as he looked back to the headmaster. “When can you do it?”

"Well, that depends," Oz replied as he leaned back in his chair looking to Glynda. "How have you been getting along with your partner?" 

“Ambur?” Mydnight questioned. “I mean...pretty good I guess. She's nice and is easy enough for me to talk to but...”

“But what?” Glynda asked after a moments pause. 

“I don't really know if she would be into this kind of life you know? Knowing all the stuff that we do and all the stuff I'm sure you haven't told me yet. Would she really have to be brought into the group?”

“She would need to, yes,” Ozpin answers. “The process of changing may be easy but adjusting to your new powers will not be. You could change by accident or lose control of your emotions and hurt someone. You will need her to be aware of the situation so she can help you.”

“Well if you think it's that serious then shouldn't my entire team know?”

"Mydnight I am going to leave that entirely up to you my boy. You can either tell Ambur or your entire team but you must at least tell her. And I won't give you these powers a moment before you do. There's too much risk, if you need convincing look no further," Oz nods to Qrow, Mydnight following his gaze up to the older Huntsman. 

“...You think this is a good idea?” Mydnight asks Qrow.

Qrow smirks in response, however, "Probably not," he laughs. "But I think you can handle it. And your partner seems pretty smart. Not to mention how strong she is. You should be fine." 

“Alright I'll...I'll tell Ambur in the next few days when I get a chance then...And I'll think about the others too,” he says as he turns to leave as Qrow reassures him one last time.

“You'll do fine kid.”  
_End of Chapter_


	6. Volume 1 Chapter 6: Changes

"God that was awful," Ambur laughed out as she held her stomach, her muscles starting to ache from all the laughing the three girls had done over the last two hours. In her other hand was a half-eaten bag of popcorn, the other two also toting around leftovers from the movie. 

"The way they treat female superheroes it just so bad," Liv shook her head with a smile on her face. "How can they not get it right in movies it doesn't make sense. Some of the most famous warriors in this world are women! Why not just ask them how they would act?" 

"No idea but they really should, they always make it so the girl needs to be rescued by a man, even in a female superhero movie they can't help themselves," Gretchen added as she rolled her eyes before sipping on her soda. 

The three girls continued down the sidewalk, the darkness of night had completely fallen by the time they had arrived at the theater, now all the streets were lit up beautifully and the girls began the trek back to the shuttle station. 

Ambur then pulled her scroll from her pocket as they continued down the street and found that she had a message from Mydnight awaiting her. As she opened it and began to read it quickly her face went red and she stopped walking. The others stopped and looked back at her, Liv immediately knowing what was wrong. 

“What did he say lover girl,” Liv laughed as she rested her hand on her hips. 

“He...” She began slowly, “He said that we need to talk. About something...important.”

“...And?” Gretchen asked.

“Ya that's pretty vague Ambur, ask him what he means.”

Ambur did as she suggested and quickly sent a message back to her partner before she took a deep breath and tried to calm down. She began to walk again as the trio rounded a corner and across the street, the shuttle bay in sight now. 

As they walked inside Ambur felt her scroll vibrate again but chose to wait until they were aboard to answer it. After they flashed their students ID's they were allowed to board the craft and as they sat down she pulled her scroll out again and read his reply out loud. 

“I just need to...tell you some stuff. It's a lot to go into over the phone. Is your movie over?” She read before looking back to her friends for help. 

“I mean that's...ominous,” Liv sighs, “Doesn't sound like is got to do with your friendship to me.”

“Like something about school?” Ambur retorts. 

“Ya maybe, something he wants to tell you about himself maybe,” Gretchen shrugs her shoulders before taking out her own scroll and beginning to check on all her messages as well. “I wouldn't worry too much about it.”

Ambur begins to type again, 'like is it urgent?'

'I mean...sort of? It can wait until morning if it needs to.' She received back.

'Oh no that's okay. We should be back in like ten minutes,' she guessed as she felt the shuttle begin to take off. 'Where are you?'

“What's he saying?” Liv asked without looking up from her own device. 

“He said it's kind of urgent,” Ambur sighed as she shrugged her shoulders. Before anyone could speak again her phone vibrated again. 

'I'm just walking around the school I'll meet you at the shuttle drop off I guess if that's okay?'

'Ya that's fine,' she sent back, 'see you in a bit.'

“He says he gonna meet me at the shuttle terminal,” Ambur's cheeks stayed pink, unsure of how to react. Her mind raced through dozens of different scenarios that could happen when they landed, each one more ridiculous than the last but she couldn't help herself. Her heart pounded in her chest as they came closer and closer to the landing area at the school, even going so far as to stand up and begin pacing nervously back and forth. 

As their shuttle touched down Liv stood and took Ambur's hand in her own, breaking her friend out of her trance, Ambur looking down into Liv's face nervously. “Wh...what do I do,” she finally managed to get out softly.

Liv smiled gently up to her friend as she began to lead Ambur down the ramp and out of the shuttle. “Just calm down, take deep breaths and be yourself. And remember,” Liv said as Mydnight came into view, leaning up against a pillar waiting for Ambur just beyond the landing platform. They could barely make out that it was him, standing just close enough to one of the lamps that lit the walkways of the school at night. “Don't tiptoe,” Liv smirked and began to laugh as she swiftly let go of Ambur's hand, placed her hand on Ambur's backside and pushed her down the path toward her partner.

Ambur stumbled a little but quickly regained her footing as she looked back and saw Liv and Gretchen walking down a separate path, back toward the dorm house, Liv motioning for Ambur to get on with it as Ambur swallowed hard and turned back toward her partner, finding him no longer staring at the ground, rather, starring at her. 

She took a deep breath and timidly raised her hand level to her bust and waved to him shyly as she began to walk toward him. Her legs felt like jello and her heart was beating in her ears. It seemed to be louder than her own footsteps as her sneakers silently moved over the stone walkway. 

“Thanks for coming,” he smiled as he shoved his hands into his pockets and turned away from her as she reached him. “Mind if we walk and talk?” He asked as he slowly began to move down the path as she continued to walk beside him. 

“No that's...fine,” she said as she took another deep breath trying to calm her nerves. “So what's up? What was so urgent?”

As they walked Mydnight seemed to fall silent for several moments before speaking again, “We'll uh...I just wanted to...talk you know?” He said nervously. She could easily tell that whatever he had to talk about was bothering him and making him just as nervous as she was. More of those scenarios that had played out in her head seemed to become possible to her as her nerves rose even higher. 

'Hoooo my god what if he asks me out what do I do!?' She yelled inside of her own head. 

“How was your movie?” he asked, snapping her back to their conversation. 

“What?” She asked before processing what he had asked her, “Oh! It was...really crappy actually,” she smiled as he began to laugh, lightening the mood. 

"Really? Well, that sucks I'm sorry," he chuckled as he looked over to her, finding her smiling back at him. "Did yall at least have fun? Sorry if I ruined girl's night," he apologized as he looked away from her. 

"Ya we had a good time, we laughed through the entire movie," she smiled before seeing him look away as he apologized. She quickly found her hand move to his shoulder, his eyes darting back over to look into hers. "It's okay don't worry about it we didn't have any more plans for the night anyway. Besides," she smiled as she let go of him and began to fidget and looked back down to the ground, "you're my partner...I gotta be here when you need me right?" 

“Hah...Ya I suppose you do,” he smiled as he led her down another path, the pair walking through the campus uninterrupted as most of the other students were in bed by now or cooped up in their rooms. “So...” he began again, clearly struggling to find the words. “Do you uh...Do you like fairy tales?”

Ambur was silent for several moments as she looked up to his face, finding that he wouldn't look back at her, rather his attention was on the star-filled night sky. "Fairy...tales?" she finally replied, confused by his question. 

“Ya uh...” he sighed as he struggled to find the right way to ask his questions. “Like...the two brothers or the four seasons...stuff like that?” He asks nervously.

“Uhm....ya I guess? Why?” Ambur asks as she scrunches her eyebrows in confusion. 

“Well...what would you do if...all of those fairy tales were actually...real?” He gulped out nervously before being met with more sarcasm from his partner.

“I mean...” Ambur smiled, “I don't know...nothing I guess?”

“Nothing?” Mydnight asked in surprise as he stopped in his tracks. “What do you mean, you wouldn't do anything different?” 

"Well...why would I?" She asked and looked back to him as stopped walking herself. "So what if there used to be gods on Remnant, if the fairy tale was real then they left a long time ago. That doesn't affect us today at all? I'd still be coming to the school and working to get my professional huntsman licenses the same as you." 

"Well, what if the story of the maidens was true?" He asked as he shrugged his shoulders and agreed with her silently before continuing down the path. 

"Why are you so hell-bent on this? You're acting like it's all real or something? Am I like offending you or something? Do you believe in all of this?" She finally asked. He stopped again and turned toward her as he began to run his hand through his hair and picked his next words carefully. 

"No...no you're not...offending me or anything like that.." he sighed, "Look..." he said softly as he stepped toward her and placed his hand on her shoulder, taking her by surprise. His touch was warm, she could feel it through her hoody as her eyes locked with his and her heart began to beat faster as it always did when he touched her. "If someone told you that there were four maidens out there with insane powers and able to actually perform feats of magic...you wouldn't freak out? Really?" 

Ambur was silent for a minute as she processed what he had said. After a moment however she spoke up again, “No not...really? It's not really that hard to believe is it?” She asked, taking him by surprise. 

“What do you mean?”

"I mean...we all run around practically performing magic, don't we? A semblance is basically just a unique magical power that we all have so...why is it so hard to believe that gods and...magical maidens exist too?" 

Mydnight sighed heavily as his vision fell, looking down to the ground quickly before looking back up into her face. "You know you're...a very open-minded person Ambur," he chuckled before she blushed and replied. 

“Well...I mean you still haven't told me why you're asking me this stuff. Do you...believe in all of that stuff or something?”

Mydnight takes a long inhale as he calms his nerves before replying, “Actually,” he says as he lets go of her shoulder and takes a step back from her, holding his hand out for her to take if she chooses. “I can prove to you right now that every word of it is real...” he says softly as he smiles to her, watching her expression change back into one of confusion and uncertainty. “But only if you want to know the truth. If you don't want to know then...I'll never bring it up a-” he nearly finishes his statement before he feels her hand grab onto his.

 

As he is cut off from speaking he looks back up to her face to find her cheeks flushed, looking back at him with a more confident expression. “If you need to tell me something then...then I'm always here so...yes. Show me,” she let out quietly before receiving another smile from her partner. 

“Thank you...Ambur...Come on,” he nods back toward the headmaster office. “Oz is waiting for us.”

“Professor Ozpin?”

“Yeah he's uh...he's the one in charge,” Mydnight says softly as he leads up to the building.

“In charge of...what...exactly?”

“In charge of...us? I guess. The group that he runs that believes in these fairy tales. I don't know everything there is to know about it but I do know a lot more than the general public. I've already seen plenty of evidence for me to believe what he says that's for sure.”

“Well...who else is in it? Any other students we know?”

“No no not any other students just...just me,” he answers quickly while shaking his head. “But...Qrow is in the group and miss Goodwitch knows as well.”

“Your uncle knows too? Is this mostly a group of older huntsmen?”

“Yeeeahhhhh,” he sighs as he closes his eyes and swallows hard before conjuring the rest of his courage. “About that...uncle thing...” He says through gritted teeth nervously. 

“...What about it?” Ambur raises her eyebrow at him as they walk into the main building and walk to the elevator at the back of the room, Mydnight calling the machine by pressing the button on the wall. 

"Qrow's...not...really my uncle...per se," Mydnight lets out quietly as his shoulders slump and he looks away from her. "We aren't really....related at all..." 

“Wh...what?” Ambur asks as she hesitates to step inside the elevator with him, sticking her hand out to hold the door open. “What is all this Mydnight? How much of what I know about you is a lie? What is your actual name?”

Mydnight sighed heavily as he looked down to the floor, thinking of what to tell his partner. “I haven't lied about anything else...just my connection to Qrow and my name...everything else I have said to you is true. It's a secret from almost everybody. Bronzine doesn't even know that I'm not related to Qrow okay? I'll tell you everything I swear. But if you want to back out then....now is the time,” he looked back up into her red eyes, burning with questions and uncertainty. 

“...Promise...” She begins as she too swallows hard and tries to steady her voice, having it crack as she said the word from how nervous she was feeling. “Promise me that you'll never lie to me again,” she said more confidently. 

Mydnight couldn't help but crack a small smile as he began to realize that she was brave enough to continue following him. “I promise Ambur...I'll never lie to you again for as long as I know you...okay?”

“...Okay,” she sighs with a small nervous smile before stepping into the elevator with him and letting the doors close. As he hits the button for the desired floor he speaks again.

“And my name is Mydnight Rose,” he says quickly as he holds out his hand to her. “By the way,” he smiles nervously as she blushes at the sound of the name, loving the way it sounded very much. She extended her hand out to meet his and shook it as her cheeks burned and her smile grew wider. 

“Nice to meet you...Mr. Rose,” she exhaled quickly through her nose, amused by their formal demeanor. 

As the elevator carried them to the top floor of the building Ambur couldn't stay still. Mydnight could see it all over her face, the girl was nervous and not sure what she doing here. It didn't help that Mydnight wasn't very good at talking to people either, as he had really explained the situation quite poorly. He just never had had to tell anyone about these sorts of things before. His name had been a secret for most of his life, no one in the outside world except for Qrow and those close to him really knew the truth. 

Mydnight had to admit that even he didn't know the whole truth yet, as Qrow had always been secretive about some bits of Mydnight's childhood. Hopefully with the coming of age that graduating from Beacon would come with Mydnight would be given much more trust in the group so he could learn all there was to know about what exactly Ozpin was working against. 

As the elevator came to a stop and the doors open, the pair found their teachers in nearly the same position that Mydnight had left them earlier that evening. "Jeez don't you guys have like...stuff to do?" He muttered to himself, Ambur not realizing he was, of course, making a joke. 

“So,” Qrow spoke first, “Told her already huh?”

“I told her...some of it ya,” Mydnight shrugged. “Was hoping you could just provide a little proof for her.”

Ozpin looked to Ambur, her gaze falling to the floor, trying not to make eye contact with him. “Proof of what exactly?”

“I...” she began slowly before looking around the room, and then back to Mydnight. “I don't really know. He said that...fairy tales are real and that...he...he could prove it and...” she fumbled her words nervously. “I don't really know what I'm doing here but...I said I would support my partner no matter what,” she smiled nervously over to Mydnight. 

“Hm,” Ozpin smiled, “Alright then. Qrow, go ahead and show her,” he says as Ambur gives him a questioning look before her gaze shifts over to Qrow. Just like before Ambur witnesses as smoke begins to pour off of Qrow's body as his figure goes completely black and shifts into the form of a Crow, flying around the room before perching on top of Mydnight's shoulder as he had done before. 

This time Mydnight was far more prepared for the action, only flinching mildly as the bird landed on him, rather than nearly falling down. Ambur, however, did flinch in a much larger way. She stumbled backward away from Mydnight in surprise, covering her head and protecting her face as the crow flew past her. 

As the room fell silent, Ambur looked intensely at the crow after righting herself and settling down, the animal staring back at her from behind equally stunning red glowing eyes. As she did however she took a step closer toward her partner, only for the crow to caw at her loudly, taking her by surprise, a gasp escaping her mouth as she stepped back again. She wheeled back around to look at Ozpin for answers and her headmaster smiled back to her. "This is no illusion Ambur." 

"...How," she finally managed to breathe out as she turned back to Mydnight, to find Qrow standing beside him, the bird gone from her sight. "Ah!" she jumped as she closed her eyes and wiped her hand across her face, frustrated by the older huntsman's jump scare. "You're saying that that isn't just his semblance," she grumbled out through gritted teeth, crossing her arms under her breasts and trying to calm down. 

“Yes indeed,” Ozpin continued as he stood from behind his desk and approached her. “I gave him the ability to change into a bird to give him more freedom and sight to spy on our enemies. To travel great distances as quickly as he could, unimpeded by things like money or other variables.”

“...And why are you telling me all this...” she asked again more timidly as she looked to the floor, Oz coming to rest right in front of her. 

“Because Mydnight trusts you,” Ozpin says gently as he rests a hand on her shoulder, “And he is going to need your help more than anything in the next few months, even years of his life if you so choose to learn more.”

“...Who...are your enemies exactly?” She asks, a bit more confidence in her voice as she looks her headmaster in the face. “I should know who you are fighting before I agree to get into a fight right?”

Ozpin smiles to her proudly before turning around and walking toward his desk again, “Right you are Ambur,” he says chipperly before turning back to her and sitting on the edge of his desk. “Darkness. The Grimm. Anything and Everyone who fights to disrupt the peace we all worked so hard to achieve in this world. And of course, the controller of the creatures of Grimm.”

Ambur gives him another confused look before speaking, “Wait...what do you mean someone controls...the Grimm?”

“Salem,” Mydnight pipes up before walking to Ambur's side. “An Evil witch who can use magic just like Oz can.”

"Far better than I can actually," Ozpin corrects. "As my magic dwindles, hers remains as strong as it ever has been. She can influence the actions of all Grimm, though as they grow older and more independent they are able to resist her control if it means their own self-preservation." 

Ambur thinks to herself for a moment before asking one more question, “So you guys aren't like...trying to fight another kingdom or anything like that? You really just want to keep the peace?”

“Yep,” Qrow answers before Glynda speaks up. 

“All we have ever wanted is for this world to be at peace. But this witch will stop at nothing to make humanity her slaves and run this world we have all worked so hard to build.”

"...Alright," she breathes out as she looks back into Mydnight's golden eyes softly, "I'll do it but...why did you need me to..." 

As the room falls silent, all eyes shift to Mydnight as he takes a deep breath. “Oz...offered me a chance to...become like Qrow,” he gestures to his older counterpart. 

Ambur's face turns to one of concern as she reaches over and takes Mydnight's hand, “Wh...Well...are you...gonna be okay like...” She turns to Ozpin, “How does it work?”

“I have offered to make it possible for Mydnight to turn into a full wolf. The spell shouldn't harm him in any way and the transformation should not be painful either. The only issue is that it can be quite difficult to control the transformations in the beginning.”

Qrow then buts in, “I made the change by accident several times in some not so convenient moments so that's for sure.”

"The reason that you needed to know all of this is so that you can help him through any growing pains there may be while he adjusts to his new abilities. Not to mention that a wolf can be a much more volatile creature emotionally than a crow. It is possible that his first several times in his new form could be impossible to control. However, this will be quite a lot easier than when I changed the Branwen twins thankfully, as you will have a lie to tell people if he suddenly transforms at random." 

“Well...what's that?” Ambur asks.

"Mydnight has not yet unlocked his semblance. And as he is already a wolf Faunus it would be possible to convince anyone who sees him that his transformation is due to finally unlock it. Of course this will only work until such a time that Mydnight does unlock his true semblance but for now, it's a good scapegoat." 

“Ya I guess that's true,” Ambur thinks to herself out loud before looking back into Mydnight's face. “You want this...right? You're not just doing it because they offered?”

Mydnight smiles before squeezing Ambur's hand tight, “I've had like two months to think about it so ya...I want this,” he answered genuinely. “Will you help me?”

"Well yes but..." She says softly before sighing, "Shouldn't our teammates know about this? They live in the same room as us...we shouldn't be hiding things from them you know?" 

Mydnight sighed as well before answering, “I think we should but...not yet. Maybe after it's done so Bronzine can't try to talk me out of it or anything. Okay?”

"...Ya, I guess that'll work," she answers before lifting her arms slightly, stopping herself for a moment before closing her eyes and summoning her courage. She throws her arms up around him and pulls him into a hug. Mydnight was surprised by her boldness but gladly accepted her embrace, happy that she had accepted everything so easily, not to mention her embrace was calming his own nerves. 

"Thank you, Ambur," he said softly into her ear, his hot breath sending shivers down Ambur's spine as he felt her jittering in his grasp. As she let go of him she had to force herself to look away from him, making sure to walk a few paces away before turning back to Ozpin. 

“Ready?” Oz asked, awaiting Mydnight's response as he pulled his sleeves up slightly and raised his hands toward his student. 

“Do it...”

_End of Chapter_


	7. Volume 1 Chapter 7: Losing Control

Swat. His hand flew past his own ear as he flinched nervously, his vision flying around the room as he looked over the other students in the class. He was convinced they were all staring at him, that they had been all day, indeed, all week. Ever since the spell had been cast Mydnight had become increasingly paranoid, his new alter ego constantly itching to be let out. 

He hadn't anticipated that it would be this difficult to control himself, nearly regretting his decision daily. His entire body itched. But it was an itch he seemed incapable of scratching. His head buzzed and his nerves and emotions were all over the place. People were beginning to take notice that something was wrong with him as well. He hadn't been able to focus on the lessons at all in each class and had already managed to have grades begin to slip. 

Of course, Ozpin would never dream of punishing Mydnight in his current state but the fact remained that some of his teachers were unaware of the change that had been made to their student. Mydnight had always figured that most of the teachers working for Ozpin knew about Salem, but he had never had the opportunity to find out which ones. 

He had only been able to change a few times, and even when he could he hadn't been able to be near any people. Qrow had walked him out into the emerald forest so he could change but shortly left after the change had been made so as to not antagonize the wolf. Mydnight had been simply left to wander the forest in a haze, his mind barely able to break through the fog of heightened senses and emotions that came with the transformation, certainly not able to control most of his actions. 

Back on school grounds, Ambur had been doing her best to be there for him and help him through it but in truth, there wasn't much she could do for her partner. She began to feel a bit more useless in fact as she watched from the seat next to him as he flinched and seemed restless day in and day out, unable to explain to their teammates what was wrong with him. 

After a day of Mydnight acting strange Ambur and he had simply lied that he was feeling sick. It explained the sweating and seeming distant, but the lie couldn't last forever. Ambur reached over, softly speaking to him as she put her hand on his wrist. He jumped a bit in surprise before calming down and trying to take deep breathes. “Just breath Mydnight...class is almost over okay? I'll walk you out to the forest if you want,” she said softly, trying not to let her emotions get the better of her. 

She felt horrible as she sat back and watched him losing control day in and day out. It made her feel like a bad partner like she should have expected this kind of magic would harm him in some way even though everyone had said it wouldn't. 

“....Sorry,” he breathed out softly, again trying not to disrupt the lesson. 

"Don't be," she said breathlessly back to him as her pity spread across her face. However, she hears his scroll vibrate in his pocket before he slowly and secretively pulls it out, hiding it from their professor and opening up a text that Ambur can see is from Rosa. Ambur, in turn, looks down to the row in front of them to see Rosa set her scroll down on her lap, looking up to Mydnight with concern on her face as well. 

Ambur fumed. It had become more and more obvious over the past several days that even in his weakened state Mydnight had plenty of time to stumble through encounters with their other female teammates. No matter how lame he seemed or how out of touch with the conversations they had, Rosa never backed down and would never leave him be. And the more Ambur witnessed it, the more it seemed like Mydnight had no intention of ever telling her to leave him be. It was becoming more and more obvious to Ambur they Mydnight actually didn't mind having her around and it burned Ambur to the core. 

She kicked herself daily for not taking Olivier's advice sooner than she did, only now just becoming comfortable around her partner, and working on talking with other people better. She had been practicing in any way she could figure out how. Raising her hand more often than never in class, spending more time with Gretchen and the rest of Liv's team so she could make new friends, she had even volunteered to spar during a class exercise for the first time all year. 

She of course effortlessly defeated her opponent and the entire class had gone silent in response, realizing just how strong she really could be. Until then, all the non Signal graduates had no idea what her semblance was, but after she had shown it off it certainly seemed that more people in the hallways were smiling her way and she had heard far less talking behind her back in the last couple of days. 

Well, that is, from everyone except her teammate of course. Rosa was always quick to talk behind Ambur's back, and she knew it. Not only had she heard it first hand by accident, but several other students had told her as well and ratted Rosa out. There were several students that had chosen Beacon as their school of choice after graduating in Vacuo and every single one of them seemed to hold a grudge against Rosaria. 

Ambur, of course, could see why the girl was mean and she didn't have any intentions of ever hiding it. She seemed proud of how mean she was in fact, quick to brag about how poorly she treated people to the few friends she seemed to have. But, at least fromAmbur's view, Mydnight just didn't see it or, far worse, didn't care. 

Ambur knew all too well that Mydnight ad largely grown up with parental figures and indeed friends, but she couldn't figure out why Rosa's meanness didn't seem to bother him at all. All the while Ambur was helping him in any way that she could, being as nice as possible to him and others and getting nothing back for it. Liv had given the insight that some guys just preferred bad girls but that piece of information didn't help Ambur relax at all. 

It in fact simply made Ambur want to teach Mydnight right from wrong more properly but she knew it wasn't her place to do so. She had to rationalize that she wasn't his mother and far more disappointingly, not his girlfriend. She couldn't just influence his decisions however she wanted, not to mention that she didn't have the confidence to do so either. 

She was pulled from her train of thought as again Midnight's scroll buzzed as it rested on his lap. Ambur found that she had been staring down at her opponent the entire time she had been thinking to herself, and now found Rosa starring angrily back at her. Ambur couldn't help but give a small apologetic smile before looking away from her female teammate and looking back to Mydnight, finding him typing away on his scroll with his forehead rested on his hand, an elbow rested on the table in front of him. 

God just the look of him, even in this state, made Ambur weak. She loved every inch of his face, unable to find a flaw on any piece that she ever got to see of him. She had thought that maybe over time, spending every single night in the same room as him would dull her crush for the boy. As if being near him would take some of the mystique away from her largely unknown crush. It never did, however, instead of every single detail she had the privilege of learning, other than his lack of romantic interest in her, turned her on more to the idea of being with him. 

Every small piece of information she got out of him about himself was like a treasure to her and she savored every last one of them. All the more reason that when he repeatedly showed mild interest in their other female teammate she could barely control her anger, not just for Rosa, but also for herself for not being more attractive to him. 

She knew that Liv's advice had always been right of course, about how she would need to change her shyness and work to stand out more to him in order to catch his eye but it just wasn't that easy. She had spent so long building up her walls, she couldn't just knock them all down in one fell swoop. Liv, of course, knew this but she also knew the only way it would ever happen is if she kept encouraging Ambur to do so. 

Ambur had been trying and was showing signs of improvement but it was beginning to seem like it was too little too late. She knew any day now that she could walk in on Rosa and Mydnight sharing an intimate moment. She had in fact already nearly done so, when she found the two alone in the room one afternoon sitting uncomfortably close to each other on Mydnight's bed, Rosa's hand running through Mydnight's hair. 

She hadn't been the only culprit too, as Mydnight had become much more bold with his actions toward Rosa in the last week too. Amber had to give him the benefit of the doubt however and cite the animalistic desires of his new alter ego as the source of his advances toward Rosa. 

Bronzine had even told her as much, not that he knew for sure but at the very least he did agree with Ambur. He hadn't quite expressed his disappointment in the fact that Ambur wasn't the one that Mydnight was clearly falling for, but he agreed that the pairing of Rosa and Mydnight wasn't good for their team. Bronzine did indeed recognize, as most did, that Ambur wanted so badly for Mydnight to be with her, he just wasn't as forward on the subject as Olivier had been. 

But what was she to do about it? It wasn't as if she could hold a team meeting on the subject and call their teammates out and tell them they couldn't date. Who were they to decide something like that, especially for such petty reasons? Every time the idea crossed Ambur's mind she silently had scolded herself as guilt began to wash over her. 

As the school bell rang, Ambur again found herself ripped from her thoughts as she saw Mydnight quickly stand from his seat and was even the first student out the door by several paces, closely followed by Rosa. “Hey,” she heard from the seat next to her, “Is he okay? You said he was sick but it seems like more than that.”

Liv. Of course, she would notice and bring it up, never able to let Ambur keep a secret from her. Most other students they knew hadn't really pressed the matter yet but Liv never had any trouble trying to wrench information out of Ambur. 'God what am I supposed to tell her,' Ambur thought to herself as she turned around to face her friend, packing up her bag while speaking. "I uh...I don't think so?" She lied again. It hurt Ambur so much to lie to the person who had so quickly become the closest friend she had ever had, but it was necessary and she knew full well that it could mean if she spilled the beans. 

“Ambur...” Liv looked to her more intensely now, as she always did when she was trying to dig information out of Ambur's brain. “Come on. I know it's not just him hanging out with Rosa or some silly cold. What's going on?”

Ambur sighed heavily, closing her eyes for a moment before zipping up her school bag and standing, motioning for Liv to follow her. "Come on," she said softly, "I can't tell you here." 

Liv quickly finished packing up her own bag before following the Amazon out of the classroom and out into the hallway. "Why are you being so secretive about it?" 

"Shhh," Ambur retorted as she held a finger up to her mouth, looking ahead down the hallway and nodding toward her partner and Rosa. She then pointed to space just about her head, signaling to Liv that it was still likely that Mydnight would be able to hear them speaking, the hallways being much quieter than normal this afternoon. 

Not to mention that with his new alter ego, all of Mydnight's senses had received a boost as he was so closely linked with the wolf than now lived inside his head. All of his already incredible senses had become heightened when the spell had been put onto him. 

Liv folded her arms over her chest and frowned, rolling her eyes and sighing, “Fine,” as they continued down the hallway and out into the courtyard, watching as Rosa and Mydnight beat the crowds back to the dorm room, together, practically hand in hand. Ambur sighed as she dropped her act and began explaining herself as the two girls approached the building. 

“Okay look,” She began, “You can't tell anyone because he doesn't want anyone to know yet...even Bronzine and Rosa don't know...at least...I haven't told them yet...”

"Jeez, what is it Ambur?" She asked as they walked inside and headed upstairs to their floor. 

“Mydnight...unlocked his...semblance,” She lied again, barely able to get the words out, struggling gain to tell such a lie to Olivier. 

“Well....why are you all hiding it? That's great news!” She said happily before Ambur shushed her again. “Why are yall not excited? What Am I missing here?” She asked more quietly. 

As Ambur was about o answer however she felt her scroll ring, surprised to find a text message from Rosa of all people. As she read it she froze on the stairs a few steps from the top, Liv continuing up to the final stair before realizing that Ambur had stopped. Students walked by her as her mouth hung open looking down at her phone, unsure of what to do or how to react. 

"Ambur?" She asked timidly, clearly able to tell that her friend was distressed. As she looked up into Olivier's eyes her friend could see tears forming in the Amazon's eyes. She watched as Ambur tried to speak but no sounds would come out, not to mention that if she could speak, Liv would only be hearing half-formed sentences as Ambur would attempt to explain to her the problem. Liv walked back down the few steps to her friend as other students pushed by them. "Hey what is it?" Liv asked again, trying to comfort her as she grabbed hold out Ambur's free hand. 

“I!” she was only able to say in response as Liv looked down to her friends scroll and read the message Rosa had sent her. 

"...Oh...ohhhh wowwww okay," Liv sighed as she swallowed hard and took Ambur's scroll from her, shoving it down into the Amazon's pocket for her and forced her friend into an embrace, Liv standing on the stair above Ambur so she could actually cradle her friends head in her shoulder. "Okay come on it's okay," she soothed quietly as she rubbed the back of Ambur's head, "Deep breathes come on,” she said again as she watched the other students angrily walk past them. 

"Wh...What do I do?!" Ambur asked hysterically as if the entire rest of the world had melted away from her. The moment she had been fearing for weeks had finally come, and even though she had tried to mentally prepare herself for it stung no less than it ever would have. 

"You can come spend the night in my room if you need to okay? Come on we gotta get off the stairs hun," Liv said calmly as she let go of her friend and took her hand, leading her up the stairs slowly and down the hall to team OCHR's room. Luckily for the pair, none of Liv's other teammates had arrived yet and she was able to sit Ambur down on her bed and run to go get makeup wipes from her bag and begin to clean up Ambur's quickly streaking makeup. "Come on it's okay, we talked about this Ambur you knew this was going to happen." 

“That doesn't make it hurt less,” she gasped out as she continued to hyperventilate. 

Liv sighed as she chucked the used wipe across the room and into the trash can, sitting down beside her friend on her bed and taking her by the hand, “Ya I...I know it doesn't I'm...sorry.”

“Why are you sorry,” Ambur sobbed as she used her free hand to wipe her face with, “You didn't do anything wrong. You were right all along,” she wept, “I let this happen and I didn't try hard enough.”

“...I'm just sorry that it happened okay...it's never easy having to watch someone you like date somebody else...especially after all the effort you put in to try and make him see you.”

"Well...I just...I don't wanna go into my room at all tonight...even if they text me again saying they are...done," she spat out as anger began to overtake her sadness. 

"That's fine, you know you are welcome to sleep over in here for the night whenever you want," Liv smiled as she put her arm around the Amazon much larger and broad shoulders, pulling her closer and resting their heads together. "Everything will turn out okay Ambur alright?" She asked as she looked over to her friend, Ambur looking back down into her eyes as well. 

“How can you say that?” Ambur asked as she looked away from her in disgust.

“Because if you really love him then you are going to keep trying...and eventually,” She begins as she reaches over and touches Ambur's chin, turning her face back toward her own, “He's going to realize that Rosa is just as horrible as the rest of us already see she is and he will get tired of it. Mydnight's a good guy Ambur he just...doesn't read emotions well and...you can't really blame him for not being able to judge people properly can you?”

“No I...I guess not,” she said as he tears steadily began to dry, wiping her face again. “So...what should I do then?”

"Hah," Liv smiles, "Don't worry about that right now...we will work on it okay? I am gonna keep helping you to break out of your shell and at some point, he's going to have to be completely blind not to notice you," she said softly as she pulled Ambur's hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ears. "You really are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen and you need to stop hiding it if he is ever going to see what I see...okay?" 

Ambur was silent for a moment before letting out a shaky long sigh as she began to calm her heart rate. “Okay...” She breathed out, almost silently. 

“First things first though, Liv laughed before standing up and heading over to her closet and beginning to change out of her uniform. “You aren't allowed to dye your hair anymore,” She laughed out as Ambur rolled her eyes and folded her arms under her chest. 

“Ugh what why not?”

“Because dear,” Liv smiled before running her hands through her own long white hair to provide an example, “White is the way to go,” she laughed.

Ambur couldn't help but smile at her friend's joke before nodding in an agreement. "I guess I can let it fade out and...give it a try..." 

“Good girl, that's the attitude we need,” Liv smiled before walking back over to Ambur with her normal clothes on. When Ambur looked again she found that Liv was actually delivering a set of clothes to her that she recognized. “Found these in our closet the other day from the last time you slept over.” The clothes were Ambur's and she stood happily from the bed, taking them immediately and beginning to change as well.

“Oh thank god I thought I'd have to wear this dumb uniform all night,” she said as she began to strip down. She had become at the very least, comfortable with changing in from of Olivier, but not really anyone else. 

"Ya, I can't imagine those uniforms are very comfortable for someone with tits like yours," Liv smirked as she respectfully looked away, having learned to turn around and let Ambur change in peace whenever she needed to change in front of her. 

"They aren't, I can't breathe all damn day in this stupid top," she said as she chucked it down on the floor and began to pull on her normal clothing, jeans a t-shirt and as usual, a baggy hoodie that hid all of her curves. When Ambur turned back to Liv she found her rolling her eyes. "What?" 

“Second things second we HAVE GOT to fix your awful wardrobe...” She shook her head as she smiled. 

“What do you mean?” Ambur said as she looked in the mirror hanging from the back of Liv's door. “What's wrong with it?”

Ambur barely finished her sentence before she felt Liv grab at the back of her sweater and pull, all the slack from the oversized sweatshirt being pulled to back, being pulled taught over Ambur's stomach and breasts, revealing to Ambur an image of her body in what looked like a much tighter top. "It doesn't have to choke the life out of you like our uniforms but you seriously need to start owning your curves. Guy's love your body type so start using it." 

“But I...won;t that just attract dudes that want sex...? Not just Mydnight?”

“Well I'm not saying that you need to show skin Ambur but your clothes need to actually fit you, hug you, show off your shape at least. And yes, guys are gonna be chasing you all up and down the school but if all you want is Mydnight then this is the way to grab his attention dear,” Liv laughed as she let go of her friend's shirt. 

"...Alright..." Ambur sighed in defeat before turning around, "So uhm...can we...go do something I don't...wanna...hear them..." She gulped out nervously as Liv shook her head in disgust, her spine-tingling at the thought. 

"Ew...Yes lets," she finally got out as they grabbed their scrolls and wallets and headed out the door and down the hall. As they reached the stairs however they found Bronzine standing near the railing which overlooked the large foyer of the dorm building. "Hey Z what're you doin up here?" 

Bronzine looked up from his scroll, “Oh...hey I...” He began, recognizing Liv's voice before looking up and trailing off as he saw that Ambur was with her. “I uh...well you...” He began as he trailed off again, not wanting to hurt his leader's feelings. “You know...” he said as he shoved his scroll back into his pocket, Ambur taking his meaning. 

“...Do you wanna...come hang out with us we are uhh...well,” she said as she turned to Olivier, “We didn't really talk about it but we are gonna go do something at least...”

“You are welcome to join us,” Liv smiled, sympathizing with Bronzine as much as Ambur. 

“Uh...sure ya...why not,” he shrugged. “Got anything in mind?”

"Well...Liv says I need new clothes so...mall?" She suggests thoughtfully as Liv silently pumped her fist happily. 

“Hah...ya,” Bronzine smiled, taking her meaning easily even if she hadn't said it. “You'll need a guy's opinion anyway right?” He reasoned with himself out loud before he removed his tie from his neck and loosened the buttons on his button up, shoving the tie into his backpack. 

“That's the spirit kids,” Liv joked before she headed for the staircase. “Let's go.”

"Hmm," Ambur smiled, "Yes Mam." 

_End of Chapter_


	8. Volume 1 Chapter 8: Behind the Scenes

Ambur ran her hands through her hair as she looked back at herself through the mirror. She still didn't see what Olivier claimed to see but she wasn't about to give up now. She had spent the last several weeks feeling uglier than ever, trying as hard as she could to never get caught looking at herself in the mirror for fear of hating what she saw. But on this day, Liv had forced her to do so, so that her shorter counterpart could try some new styles on Ambur's face. 

“Sit still,” Liv said softly, her mouth hanging open as she concentrated on steadying her hand before drawing Ambur's wing's on her eyelids. 

"Sorry I just...I hate this..." She admitted before Liv chuckled softly so as to not move too much. 

“Stop worrying about your hair already, the black is almost out of it,” she assured, better to let it fade naturally than bleach it back to white. You have remarkably healthy hair for how long you've been doing that awful skunk job,” she laughed as she stepped back from Ambur, having finished her wings. She turned back toward the counter top and began rifling through her products once again, trying to decide what she wanted to use next. 

“I liked it like that though...I haven't had plain white hair since I was like thirteen...it's a big change for me,” Ambur whined.

“Yes it is and thankfully it looks way better than it did with those black lines running through it,” Liv laughed again as she stood beside Ambur and held her shoulders, both of the girls looking in the mirror back at Ambur. “I know this has been hard for you but you've trusted me this far right? Don't ruin it when you are so close,” she smiled. “You look great.”

Liv meant it to, having watched Ambur's slow progress over the past two months, not just waiting for her hair to fade to her natural color, but also getting Ambur to change her wardrobe and even start to work out a little as well.

Getting Ambur to go to the gym with her had definitely been the hardest part to accomplish though. Sure Ambur didn't care for her natural hair color but she could understand that maybe it would catch Mydnight's attention better, same going for the change in clothing style. However, getting a body shy girl with insane strength to justify going to the gym, even with a friend, had been an incredible challenge. 

Of course, they were fortunate to have a gym on campus, free for all students to use at their leisure, but even the matter of price hadn't swayed Ambur's opinion of going. In the end, it was Liv who had to beg Ambur every time she wanted to go for Ambur to come with her. But therein lied another problem for Ambur. 

Not only did she not want other people to see her in work out clothing, but she also didn't see the point in going at all. Liv had often told her that her hourglass figure was already great and that once they started to show it off Mydnight would definitely notice. On top of that Ambur's semblance already made her stronger than she could ever possibly need to be. It wasn't as if her butt was all fat either, as it had only gotten so shapely from the years of volleyball she had played, making her curves almost all muscle. 

In the end, however, Liv had finally been able to talk her into it by telling her that it would be the quickest and easiest way for Ambur to shed her body shyness. Eventually, she would find herself simply working out and completely unaware that anyone was looking at her. Ambur, of course, wasn't sure that she believed that, but nonetheless had agreed to it. She had recently begun to feel slightly better about her body, as Liv said she would but still she doubted the issue would ever go away completely. 

The other reason that Liv had been dragging her down to the gym was to get Ambur to try and get a little color into her skin in the tanning booth. Ambur had rejected the idea completely for several weeks but only recently had been starting to consider it now that she could really see just how much her hair blended in with her skin tone. Liv was light skinned and her hair still managed to stand out much more than Ambur's now because of how truly pale she had become. 

When she was still allowed to play, volleyball had actually kept her fairly tan, and back then Ambur's hair was cut very short so as to keep it out of her face at all times without worrying about putting her hair in a ponytail. Back then she had never really cared what she looked like because it had never been an issue. However when she got to Signal academy suddenly everyone started caring about how everyone looked and everyone began to find their own styles to stand out. She started growing her hair back out and hadn't really stopped, only cutting off the split ends once in a while, and it was now nearly halfway down her back. 

Liv finally grabbed Ambur out of her thoughts as she brought up this very subject, “You know,” she began, “We don't have to wait for the rest to fade out if we just get you a haircut,” she suggested quietly, not sure how Ambur would react to the idea. 

Ambur opened her mouth to speak but stopped herself short as the idea began to wash thoroughly through her brain. For once she wasn't immediately opposed to one of her friend's ideas since even Ambur could see that her hair really had no styling to it and really was quite a mess. Cutting all the blackout however would mean taking off several inches at this point, bringing her hair back up to her shoulders. She took a long sigh as she thought about it, Liv surprised at her initial silence and lack of backlash to her idea. 

Finally, she answered quietly, "Ya I...guess that's a good idea..." 

Liv was shocked, placing her hand over her mouth before smiling back to her friend, “Did you really just say that?” She chuckled a little before Ambur looked back up to her. 

"Don't make a thing out of it," she smirked playfully. "Know a good place?" 

"Do I?!" Liv shouted excitedly before racing to pull her scroll out of her tight jean pockets as fast as she could before shooting a message to her hairdresser. "I'll get us an appointment as soon as possible!" 

Ambur couldn't help but laugh at how excited her words had made her friend. She hadn't seen her this excited since she had met her. “Do you have a style in mind or anything? I am open to suggestion just...not too short okay?”

"Not a problem," Liv said as she set her scroll down on the counter top and began playing with Ambur's hair, trying to imagine what she would do to it if it were entirely up to her. "Well, first of all, we need to get it out of your face. I know you aren't gonna like it but you'll get used to it okay?" 

“Ehhhh...” Ambur sighed, trying to keep her disagreement inside. 

"I promise you'll learn to like it. You know full well that you have an eye-catching body but I'm telling you that your face is even better than all that and you need to let Mydnight see it if he is ever going to really see you." 

“Huhhhh,” she sighed again, “Fine...but...how short are you talking?”

“It doesn't have to be short to show your face off, you just need to pick a style, preferably with your bangs out of your face.”

"Okay well...can you like pull up some styles on your scroll or something? Maybe we can pick one?" 

Olivier happily does as instructed and the girls spend several minutes scrolling through search engines to find a style that Ambur thinks she can live with before a message pops up blocking their view. As they read it together they find out that Liv's hairdresser is actually not too busy today and that she can squeeze Ambur in for an appointment whenever they decide to show up. "Well that's convenient," Liv smiled before putting her scroll back in her pocket. "Wanna go right now?" 

“I mean...I guess,” she smiled nervously, “Why not?” She threw her hands up in defeat before standing from her chair as the girls moved to the center of Liv's room. 

"So, why don't you change into some of the new stuff we got you at the mall huh? Your makeup's already done so why not? You'll return to the school as a new woman," Liv smiled before looking through her own closet for garments to change into. 

“...Do I have toooo?” Ambur groaned.

“I mean, if you're legitimately asking me that question then the answer is yes, you have to,” Liv laughed. 

"Ffffffine," Ambur sighed again before leaving OCHR's room and crossing the hall to her own, pressing her ear to her door to check for any signs of her teammates before opening the door, finding Mydnight still asleep and her other two teammates have gotten up and left. 'I guess it's still morning,' she rolled her eyes, 'but only just,' she saw as she looked to the digital clock on the end table near her bed, reading '11:37 AM'. 

"Surprised your GIRLFRIEND," She began with a quiet mocking tone, "got out of bed without you this morning." As she reached the team's closet she began to quickly scan through the newer items that Olivier had helped her pick out. It hurt her eyes to look at, even in their dark room all the new white clothing stood out against her old black garments. Liv had reasoned with her, telling her that if she kept up the tanning when springtime came and the sun was out that she would darken up a lot, and the white clothing would really contrast with her new skin tone. 

Even now it contrasted quite a bit and Ambur couldn't help but grab a pair of white high waisted jeans, tossing them to her bed before looking back into the closet. Liv's favorite part of the trip by far had been when she had convinced Ambur to get new shoes, of course, this was only because Liv was able to spend an hour in the store and brought several pairs home for herself. 

Ambur still found herself incredibly jealous of Liv's form and her size, especially when it came to shoes. Liv could wear any pair of shoes she wanted and it looked great on her. Flats, skateboarding shoes and Liv's personal favorite, heels. Ambur was far too tall to ever wear heels, already being taller than most of the guys in school without them. Liv, of course, told her that that was silly and that she could wear whatever she wanted but Ambur didn't believe her. The girls had at the very least found a pair of white canvas lace-up shoes that went up about two inches past Ambur's ankle and would overlap the bottom of her jeans. 

As she tossed those to her bed as well she turned back and began looking for a shirt. 'God they are all so short,' she thought to herself as she looked at the myriad of different crop tops Liv had talked her into buying. She didn't hate the clothing to be fair, she actually thought it was all really cute. The problem came when she saw it on herself. She knew all too well though that deep down, Liv was right and she needed to use what she had. 

As she pulled a golden a cropped tank top from the closet she also grabbed one of her newer bras with thinner straps to go under it, still not entirely convinced that the thin straps would be able to support her without snapping but hey, she needed to try. She had come this far and she wasn't about to give up now. She looked over to the sleeping wolf, making sure he hadn't moved since her last time looking his way and began to quickly strip her clothes off, not wanting to bring her clothes back into Liv's room again by accident. She had gotten into the nasty habit of losing clothing in her friend’s room, having changed in it so often. 

As quickly as she could, she pulled on all of her new garments, praying that each one would fit properly, which of course they did. The girls had gone to great lengths to find items that would actually fit Ambur properly. It hadn't been easy, several long trips had been spent finding only one or two items at a time that would actually fit over and corral the Amazon bust and fit over her hips properly to get her ready for her transformation. 

Mydnight began to rustle in his bed however as Ambur was halfway done pulling up her jeans and she nearly jumped in place in surprise, barely able to control herself. It was only now that she thanked Liv for dragging her to the gym every other day. The weight lifting may not have yielded any trimmed fat or gained muscle, but what it had done was it allowed her to work on controlling her semblance. The old Ambur would have jerked up in surprise and torn the pants apart by accident, but now she was beginning to be able to use her own normal strength instead of having her semblance interfere all the time. 

Liv had told her that this was a possibility and that this was something they should hope for in their trips to the gym and Ambur was very surprised to find that she hadn't done any damage to the jeans as she looked them all over for tears. She waited until Mydnight had settled back down and rolled over before pulling the pants up the rest of the way, doing a sort of little dance to pull the tight waist over her hips, her bust bobbing back and forth in time with her motion as she had not replaced her bra yet. 

Ambur may not have always liked her body type but she was in some ways thankfully for the quality of her body at least. She knew she was still young but she was ever impressed at the way her bust didn't sag, given how large her breasts were. They were quite full and shapely in fact which did make bra shopping just a tiny bit easier since, while they did weigh their fair share, they weren't too cumbersome and didn't require a ton of support padding. 

After getting her bra and top on she pulled her sneakers on, tied them up and headed back to Liv's room after grabbing her wallet on the way out. As she was about to open Liv's door, however, the door flew open and Liv stepped out into the hallway before her eyes lit up, looking Ambur up and down as her jaw dropped. 

“...What?” Ambur said finally as she looked down to her friend as she folded her arms over the small slit of her stomach that was showing between her top and jeans. 

“You look great that's what!” She spat out as she grabbed onto Ambur's wrists with her own, Ambur groaning audibly as Liv directed her arms back to her sides and looked her up and down. “You didn't even need help picking an outfit. I'm so proud,” she smiled as she looked back up into Ambur's eyes. 

“Do...do you really think so?” Ambur asked bashfully as she looked down to the floor. “I'm not so sure...”

"Yes, I am sure Ambur," Liv said softly as she smiled and took Ambur's hand in her own, leading her down the hallway. "You did very well, come on." 

As Liv led her down and out of the building and into the large courtyards of the school, Ambur kept seeing other students glance at her before doing double takes. Several of them were in their grade and recognized the pair, some saying hello as they passed. Liv usually caught plenty of attention at the school, they were all teenagers after all, but it seemed as if on this walk around the campus the hellos and stares were directed at Ambur for once, rather than her runway counterpart. 

"They are all looking at meeee," Ambur breathed out nervously, beginning to feel self-conscious. 

“Yes dear, that's the point,” Liv laughed out. “Just because you want Mydnight to notice you doesn't mean everyone else can't to.”

“...I guess...” she said as she gave another set of passerby’s a shy smile and wave in response to them smiling at the girls.

As they reached the shuttle area and boarded the two got comfortable for the short trip down to Vale as Liv pulled her scroll out again. “Hey,” she said, grabbing Ambur's attention. Ambur looked over to her before being blinded by a flash of light, blinking and putting her hands up over her face.

"Ugh, Liv what the hell," she groaned before she felt Liv's hands pulling her own away from her face. 

“Hey hey don't rub your face you'll ruin your make up,” she giggled out. “Sorry I was just really excited,” she apologized as Ambur obliged. 

“God warn me if you're gonna do that,” she sulked.

“Well I needed a before picture and I was afraid you wouldn't let me take one if I asked you,” she chuckled. 

“Well I'd rather you get a nice picture of me then one of my shocked and blinded face,” Ambur retorted, Liv shrugging in agreement. 

“Then smile okay?” She asked softly before lifting her scroll again. Ambur sat still for a moment before Liv looked at her again from behind her scroll. “Ambur?”

“What?”

“I said smile,” Liv scowled.

“I am smiling,” Ambur replied, though she knew deep down that she really wasn't. She hadn't been put on the spot for a picture in a very long time and it took some serious effort to get her to smile for a picture. 

"Well could you smile in such a way that your face looks like you're actually happy," Liv laughed out before looking back into her scroll. 

“Huhhh...” Ambur sighed before taking in a deep breath through her nose and plastered a fake smile across her face. 

“Well hopefully,” Liv began before taking the picture so Ambur could relax her face, “You won't need to fake it for the after picture.”

“Ya well...we'll see I guess,” she mumbled as she looked around the ship. The shuttle was a bit more crowded than usual today and she found several of their classmates looking her up and down. Some clearly lusting after her, some girls giving her jealous looks and other students squinting at her in confusion, trying to figure out who she was. They knew they had seen her before but they couldn't tell where. Her changes in skin tone and hair color had been quite gradual, but the change in clothing was so sudden that most of them couldn't remember where they had seen her before or who she was. 

Ambur felt antsy like she needed to escape, but suddenly she felt Liv's hand on her thigh, her thumb rubbing against it to try and calm her as the Amazon looked down to her friend. She found Liv looking back up into her face before she put her arm around Ambur's and leaned her head into Ambur's shoulder. "It's okay, stop worrying," she soothed as she put her hand in Ambur's. Ambur let out a deep sigh, trying to calm her breathing before she began to rest her head on top of Liv's. 

“Thank you for all of this by the way...”

“For what?” Liv asked genuinely, not quite realizing how much she had done for Ambur over the past few months of knowing her. 

“For...everything...for helping me with all of this...I realize I never really thanked you for any of it I just...really appreciate your patience and how hard you try with me...”

"Hah," Liv laughed a bit, "It has been my pleasure, Ambur. I got to play build a best friend," she laughed out, garnering a laugh from Ambur as well. "Sorry if I ever like...forced you to do any of this." 

"No, not at all...I knew all of this needed to happen I...just needed someone to motivate me to actually...do it you know?" 

"Good...you know I didn't do any of this for me, right? That was just a joke," she chuckled. "I just want you to be happy and...while I know you think Mydnight is the key to your happiness I want you to understand that happiness comes from within. You can't be happy with someone else if you aren't happy with yourself first.”

“...That's...really wise Liv,” Ambur breathed out in surprise. “And I think I will be happy with myself I just...gotta get used to this.”

“I know,” she said as she felt Liv pat her hand on her thigh several times. “All things considered you actually changed pretty quick. It's only been what...like four months since we met? That's pretty fast if you ask me.”

“Is it?”

“Well ya,” Liv scoffed. “People don't just wake up one day and decide to change themselves completely you know? It takes time and a lot of encouragement.”

“Well...I had a really good coach,” Ambur said as it was now her turn to pat Liv's thigh as the two girls smiled together. 

“Awhhh,” Liv blushed, “you're too kind,” she laughed. 

As the girls finally reached the ground and began to walk to the center of town Ambur once again found the attention of the general public on her for once instead of Olivier. One of the reasons Ambur loved to walk around with her so much before was because Liv usually grabbed all the attention of every passerby. Now that Ambur was all dolled up she found more and more people looking at both of them or just herself for that matter. 

The day began to fly by as Ambur quickly found them at Liv's hair salon and she was sat down in a chair with a cloth over her body. Liv stood beside her the entire time and chatted up her stylist, both women playing with Ambur's hair several times to try and demonstrate what Ambur had said. 

Ambur herself stayed relatively quiet at first unless she was spoken too directly or asked a question, trying her best not to interfere too much and simply let the woman work, differing to Liv's suggestions for most of the encounter. In a matter of moments, all the black was cut from her hair and she could barely see the length on the floor at her feet out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't be sure but seeing the length of black hair being cut from her head she couldn't help but feel a bit lighter as the rest of her white hair seemed to glow in the mirror. 

After the black was taken out she was taken to another chair and lay back into a stylist's sink as the woman began to wash her hair for her. The way her fingertips scrubbed her scalp she nearly fell asleep in the chair before she felt Liv tapping her shoulder, looking up into her laughing friend's face as Liv beckoned her to get up. "Sorry," she breathed out with a small laugh. As they reached her original chair and the stylist went back to work Ambur actually opened a bit, beginning to chat with the other two and beginning to lose focus on her hair. She was more captivated by looking back into the mirror and seeing Liv and her stylist and the conversation that all three of them began to steer toward. 

She figured the subject would come up eventually of how her hair became so unkempt and what the sudden change was inspired by. "Well, I..." She stumbled before Liv answered for her. 

“What do you think?” She said to her stylist as the older woman laughed and took the hint. 

“In love huh kid?” She chuckled as Ambur began to blush and agreed. As the three delved deeper into the story the time began to fly by until suddenly Ambur found herself turned back toward the mirror and the stylist spoke up one last time. "Alright hon you're all set," she said happily as Ambur finally looked back into the mirror and saw her face hair free for the first time years. 

Her lips parted to speak but no words came. Her red eyes lit up with life and shock as she looked back at herself in awe. For the first time, she wasn't worried about what the rest of her looked like and was only focused on her face. Her hair had been cut back to being only around an inch past her shoulders and her bangs were parted over her left eye, both sections tucked behind her ears to keep them out of her face. The makeup that Olivier had put on her this morning stood out so much more than it ever had. Ambur slid forward in the chair as she leaned in to see herself closer in the mirror as Liv couldn't help but smile uncontrollably as she could tell that Ambur was impressed. 

In the lighting of the salon Ambur shone for the first time in her life, all the women around unable to look away as the shy girl stood and looked at herself completely in the mirror, turning to see different angles of herself in shock. "Is that..." she breathed out, nearly inaudibly as she ran her finger down her cheek before running her hand through her hair, watching it fall right back into place due to all the blow drying and teasing the woman had done. "Is that really me?" She asked as she turned to her side and her eyes fell to her backside, admiring her own hips before her eyes climbed back up to her bust as she ran her hands from just below her breasts down over her butt. 

"You look awesome Ambur," Liv smiled out as she stepped closer to her friend and stood beside her in the mirror. She then smirked and whispered jokingly to the Amazon. "This is the part where you tell me I was right," she stuck her tongue out. 

“Ahah,” she laughed once before she began to laugh uncontrollably, before coming to rest and finding herself smiling back at herself in the mirror before she saw another flash of light as Olivier took a picture of them both in the mirror before showing it to Ambur.

“See...your smile is so much prettier when it's real.”

_End of Chapter_


	9. Volume 1 Chapter 9: Oblivious

"Hm?" Ambur hummed in confusion as a small piece of folded up paper flopped down on her section of the long classroom table from the row above her. She quickly grabbed the piece before unfolding it and quickly scanning it, only to find that it was filled with contact info. She looked up to the row above her only to find a male student looking down at her confidently. Ambur couldn't help but laugh as she turned back around, tore the paper in two and chucked it back over her shoulder in his vague direction, Liv too laughing along with her as she had witnessed the entire event. 

Such had slowly become the norm for Ambur over the past few weeks and while at first, it had bothered her greatly to know that other men, and indeed women, had had their eyes glued to her ever since she had gone through her very sudden change in style, it no longer got to her. She hadn't expected her own peace of mind to return so soon after her transformation but indeed it had. With Liv's company, she had found much more security in her new look than she had ever envisioned possible. On more than one occasion the girls and a few others in their friend group had even gone out to clubs in Vale and every time a guy or girl began to hit on Ambur or Liv, the other would quickly step in and pretend to be romantically involved with the other to escape the situation as easily as possible. 

Of course in class, Ambur still wore her uniform in all the classes which demanded it, just as every other student, but if anyone caught Ambur outside of class she was an eye-catcher, to say the least. Liv had been jealous of her body before, but now that it was actually on display she had, even more, to be jealous of. The constant attention that Ambur received from passersby, which used to solely be starring at Olivier was now split between the two girls. Liv, of course, knew this was for the best but she had needed a little time to get used to it. Ambur had expected her changes to be met with some bullying or teasing somewhere along the way but to her surprise no such thing ever took place. 

The issue, however, had remained the same, much to Ambur's dismay, as it had since the beginning. The one guy that Ambur was trying to get the attention of seemed completely oblivious to the changes she had made. Mydnight had made it abundantly clear that at the present time he only had eyes for one girl at the school, Rosa. The one person at the school that Ambur couldn't seem to please just so happened to be the girl that the boy she dreamed of craved. At first, Ambur had been readily helping Mydnight with his new abilities but more and more she had found Rosaria and Mydnight running off to do who knows what alone and she was becoming more and more sure that she knew about the wolf. 

Mydnight had steadily been asking Ambur less and less often to help him with his abilities, and while she attributed some of that to the fact that he was getting more and more stable, she also felt that Rosa had something to do with it. The two were gone, off doing who knows what, nearly every day of the week after class, and even on the weekends most times they were nowhere to be found. 

Ambur's worst fears had even been realized weeks ago when she walked in on the two of them in the act on Rosa's bed. She, of course, had quickly shut the door and left, though she hadn't had such a visceral reaction as she did the first time Rosa had warned her not to come into their room for a while. She had gotten used to the fact that the two were dating, and while it did hurt to see them tangled together like that she had been able to bury it deep down and not react in such an emotional way. 

At this point, she knew she was playing the long game with Mydnight, and Olivier had been a big part of convincing Ambur that the two were nothing more than a fling that Ambur simply had to wait out. Ambur maybe knew a little better deep down, but on the surface, their relationship seemed very superficial and even guided by Mydnight's transformation. Oz had said that the spell would heighten Mydnight's senses and emotions, and as soon as it had he had immediately caved into the girl who had been most obvious with her feelings for the wolf. Rosa had made it perfectly clear to Mydnight very early in knowing him that she was sexually interested in him, and as soon as the moment of weakness presented itself she had pounced on it. 

As Mydnight found himself craving sexual interaction, among other things, it seemed all too natural to Ambur that he would choose Rosa to take it out on, and she hoped that in time these cravings would slow, that he would see her for who she really was. Everyone else at the school could see, easily, that Rosa was a genuinely horrible teammate and partner. She never showed up for partner exercises, never participated in class, openly criticized Ozpin's decision to make Ambur their team leader, and generally caused chaos and hell for the team. It had become clear to Oz especially that this didn't seem like it was ever going to change, so shortly after Mydnight had become romantically involved with her, Oz had forbidden Mydnight and Ambur from telling her about their group until further notice. 

Apparently, according to Mydnight, this order did not include keeping her from learning of his new 'Semblance' as they were calling it, at least Ambur suspected as much. Though while she felt she was suffering a little, but she pitied her other teammate much more. Bronzine had become very distant from the group, keeping quiet in all their team meetings. When they had first met he seemed so outgoing and happy and energetic, but the farther they had gotten in the school year the more that had changed. She had still been able to convince him to come out with her and Olivier from time to time, and when he did she could see glimpses of how happy he used to be, but it was clear that he was extremely disappointed with his friend's choices as of late. 

Ambur could tell that out of them all, Bronzine's relationship with Mydnight was the one hurting the most. She had often wondered what she could do to help but lately, she had been fighting a losing battle on that front. She couldn't even get Mydnight and Rosa to stay at team meetings until everything she wanted to talk about had been said, never mind getting Mydnight alone to talk. She had tried several times to get him alone but Rosa was too paranoid, knowing full well about how Ambur really felt about Mydnight.

She wanted so badly to at the very least break the two of them up if only to get Bronzine his best friend back, even if she didn't also get what she wanted out of it. She knew however that it wasn't that simple, and that if Midnight really did care for Rosa it wouldn't be her place to bad mouth her in front of him. 

“Miss Magnaria?” She heard finally as she felt Liv elbow her in the side gently to bring her attention back to class. 

"What?" She reacted quietly as she looked back down to where professor Goodwitch stood staring at her. "Sorry," she sighed out. 

“Yes well seeing as we are looking for a volunteer and you have managed to not participate in my class a single time you may make it up to me by sparring with someone,” the older woman scolded as Ambur took in a sharp nervous breath.

As Glynda had so keenly pointed out, Ambur had not been selected to participate in her class so far in the entire semester and she was beginning to think that their teacher hadn't picked her on purpose. But now that she had clearly changed so much maybe Miss Goodwitch thought that she would be ready to actually fight in front of the small crowd. 

“Uhmm...I...okay,” she replied nervously as she stood and looked down to the small arena in the middle of the room, finding no one there. “Who...am I fighting?” She asked as she stepped down the bleachers and onto the stage. 

“Well, do we have any volunteers?” She asked as she looked out over the crowd before the boy that had been sitting behind Ambur stood up. 

“I'll do it,” he smirked as she began walking down the bleachers to meet Ambur on the stage. 

"Ah, Mr. Alroy, thank you," she smiled as Ambur saw their readouts begin to display on the screens above the stage. Ambur had seen him fight before during the class and began to try and remember how he normally fought. He was shorter than her by a few inches with a crew cut, red hair, and brown eyes. As the two retrieved their weapons from the rack at the back of the stage Ambur realized that he as well wielded a sword, though his was much more common looking than her own. 

It was quite long and the entire blade was red, curved only at the end and as he walked back to the center of the stage he seemed very confident. Ambur, of course, knew that it would take a miracle for him to beat her but she sure didn't look confident on the outside. It was, of course, her first fight that her classmates would actually be seeing her in and most of them were unaware of her semblance and she silently ordered herself to keep it tame. 

She would use it but not nearly to its full extent, and as she met him at center stage and readied herself she looked to Liv one last time, finding her friend smiling back at her and nodding her head. Ambur couldn't help but smile as her vision fell back to her opponent. 

"Alright ready?" Glynda asked as both of the combatants nodded their heads in response. "Alright then, begin!" She ordered as Ambur quickly found her opponent slashing at her, moving her immense blade in front of the attack as quick as she could, not expecting him to come out of the gate so quickly. 

As his blade hit hers however she found that while his strike had been fast, it hadn't carried nearly enough weight to make Ambur concerned. Then, as their blades clanged he too began to realize that not only was she capable of maneuvering her giant sword quick enough to block him, but she wasn't recoiling from any of his strikes what so ever. Her blade wouldn't budge an inch after contact every time they met. After the ninth blocked slash in a row, Ambur locked their cross-guards together for a moment and summoned a bit of her strength, pushing in his direction and up, pushing him backward and up into the air for a moment as he landed back on the stage and slid backward a few feet. 

The entire crowd was silent as they watched this, other than Olivier of course who couldn't help but cheer Ambur on. Her opponent too was shocked to find that she was even stronger than he could have imagined she was, seeing that her shove had taken barely any effort. Ambur quickly decided that while he was too stunned to attack her that now would be a good time for her to transform her weapon, which she did by pressing her thumb and pointer finger together at the top of the hilt as the blade split right in half down the middle. 

Each blade was now single edged and she held one in each hand with ease, each only retaining half of the cross-guard of the large blade. She then began to jog lightly at him as he reflexively took a defensive stance, panicking as her strength overwhelmed him. She slashed one blade at his intentionally, forcing him to block as she slipped the other between his legs and used the flat edge to pull his left leg forward toward her, forcing him to fall over backward onto his back as she stood above him with a foot on his chest and her other blade above his throat. 

“Gods...how strong are you?” She heard him ask, his voice shaky and nervous. 

“Apparently too strong for you,” she smirked as she stepped off of him and took a step back, letting him up to his feet as she combined her blades back into one. “And I don't date guys shorter than me so keep your number to yourself,” she chuckled before heading back to the weapon rack, intending to put her blade back. 

Though before she could do so she heard Liv yell her name worriedly, Ambur turning back to find the boy charging at her with his blade behind him, ready to strike. She couldn't believe she hadn't heard him charging her and as she re-flexed to stop him she didn't have time to control the force of her parry. She would find herself lucky that she hadn't actually damaged the boy's aura at all, for as she brought her blade through its arc around her body, she held it sideways, the blades facing straight up and down as the blunt side of the blade collided with his sword, and then him as she followed through with her swing. 

The force was far more than enough to parry the blow, however, and instead hit the young man so hard that it redirected him entirely, sending him flying into an empty section of the bleachers head first. There was quite a noise as his blade clanged against the metal seats and eventually clattered to the floor as his red aura flashed before disappearing completely, Ambur hearing the monitor above her announcing that he had run out of Aura from just the collision. 

“Ooooo,” Ambur winced out as she squinted and looked away from him, beginning to feel bad for how hard she had hit him. Though as he began to stir and right himself, albeit slowly and with much labor, she began to feel better and thankful that she hadn’t permanently hurt him. 

"Well, I think we can all learn a lesson here can't we?" Glynda said with mild whimsey in her voice, forcing Ambur to look back toward her. "Never underestimate your opponent," she began as she looked out over the rest of the students and then back to Ambur, "And never turn your back on an opponent, even if it's to grant them mercy," she smiled as she nodded to Ambur. 

“...Yes mam,” Ambur said softly as she walked back to the weapon rack, placed her sword down and walked back to the bleachers, finding students moving out of her way the entire time as she walked back up to where she had been sitting, some even moving when they didn't have to.

Liv, however, was ecstatic, bouncing up and down in her seat until Ambur's sat back down beside her. As soon as she had, Liv was patting her hand on Ambur's thigh in excitement before she wrapped her arms around Ambur's arm. "That was awesome!" She half yelled half whispered as Glynda picked another pair for the class to watch. Eventually, they watched as the boy finally made it back to their side of the room, but this time he sat well far away from them in embarrassment, causing the two girls to laugh. 

“Well...it did feel pretty good to let loose....even if it was by accident and only for a split second.”

“Does it like...feel weird to keep all that strength pent up?”

"Ya, it...kinda does sometimes...I don't know. Maybe not weird...like always touching things really softly makes it all the more strange when I do get the chance to really hit something." 

“Well then you should volunteer more often haha,” she laughed, “Though I don't think anyone is gonna be challenging you any time soon after that.”

"Well, why don't you then," Ambur smirked back to her friend as Liv again laughed. 

“Because I'm not insane like everyone else. I know what you can do. Maybe if she ever asks for doubles I'll fight with you but not against you.”

“Fair enough.”

/

As the girls walked toward the dining hall that Afternoon they found familiar faces sitting where the group had more or less made their spot. All of their teammates were there in fact, other than of course the two that had been ditching them lately. It wasn't often that Ambur actually got to converse with Caroline and Hunter, though she did enjoy their presence. Everyone needs those fringe friends that aren't around much but are easy to get along with. Bronzine and Gretchen too sat with the couple and Ambur could tell that Gretchen was trying her very best to hold a conversation with the young man. 

It had become increasingly difficult lately to keep Bronzine talking, as he would seem to space out even more often than Ambur ever did during class. As the pair grabbed their food of choice and met back at the table Bronzine did seem to cheer up a little bit upon seeing his leader with them. 

“Hey,” he smiled softly as Ambur smiled back and pat him on the back. 

“Hey yourself,” she replied as he went back to playing with his food. “Nice to see you eating with us for once.”

"Ya well I figure..." he began quietly before looking back to her. "I shouldn't just be sulking alone when you're dealing with the same shit I am right?" He sighed out as he went back to staring down into his hardly touched meal. However, as he felt her hand on his shoulder he glanced back over to her. 

"Well, I hope you keep it up because I would love to be here for you to talk to more often." 

“You know...you've changed a lot,” he smirked.

“Ya well I had a lot of help,” she smiled back before they both looked to Liv who gave them a thumbs up as she chewed on her food. 

“Ya well,” he sighs as he looks back to his food, “It looks good on you.”

"Awh thanks," she blushed genuinely as she rests her hand on her heart. 

“See I told you,” Liv snickered after swallowing her food.

“Told me what?”

“That other guys can appreciate the way you look without immediately wanting to get into your pants,” she smiled as the group heard Bronzine exhale through his nose hard as he held back laughter. 

“Absolutely right,” Hunter agreed. “Not to mention that you do look a lot happier all the time.”

“Well I...honestly feel happier,” Ambur smiled before taking a bite of her sandwich. “Even if that dumb partner of mine doesn't appreciate it.”

"You know I don't think I've ever actually asked you outright but..." Bronzine began before pausing. "What exactly do you even like about him? If you don't mind me asking that is," he said quietly. 

As the group's attention all turned to Ambur however she fell silent and began to think, trying to find the words to describe her feelings. “Well,” she said after swallowing her food, “to be honest I...I still don't even really know him that well. I never got to know him at all at Signal and almost as soon as we got here Rosa grabbed his attention.”

“So...” Liv sighs, “Is it really just a physical attraction?”

“I mean...it was at first for sure,” Ambur admits. “I've had a blind crush on him for years but...I don't know there's something more than that...Something about him really gets to me. Before he started dating her we were getting to know each other really well and we do actually have stuff in common. And while he may not think so he is actually really nice or...he was before she was around.”

“Well it's not even that he isn't nice anymore it's just...her,” Bronzine grumbles. “He's a very impressionable guy he...he really feeds off of the people around him. Before I started talking to him he was basically a clone of Qrow because that's the only person he ever conversed with on a regular basis. He didn't grow up around people who could shape him into what we would consider a normal person ya know? So he doesn't really understand how to be his own person or make important decisions for himself. He never learned what it was like to deal with the consequences of doing something wrong.”

As the group again goes silent Ambur searches for a way to change the subject, trying to shift the focus away from her personal life. Though before she can Caroline speaks up. “Has he...actually even noticed that you've changed?” She asks as she nods toward the large arched door of the dining hall, the group turning to look all at once to find Rosa and Mydnight entering the large room. 

“Huhhhhh,” she sighed heavily before they all returned their attention to each other, “Not even a little bit...at least not that he has said anyway.”

“Honestly that boy is oblivious I have no idea how he does it,” Liv laughed out halfheartedly. 

“It really is quite impressive how blind he can be,” Bronzine adds. 

“Ya well...even if he never actually takes notice and I never get to be with him then...it's fine,” Ambur smiles as she looks down to her food before looking back to Olivier. “I still needed to change and I'm way better off as I am now than how I was.” Liv can't help but smile and begin to blush as she fails to get any words out of her lips. All she can do is reflexively lean into Ambur's shoulder again, silently thanking her again for the opportunity. “I really needed a best friend you know,” Ambur adds as she leans back into her friend gently. “I'm really glad it's you,” she sighs out happily before returning to her food. 

Liv looks over and watches as her friend takes another bite of her sandwich and the group continues to talk, Liv tuning all their words out as she watches Ambur. She couldn't believe how much she had changed, even though she was the one who had helped her all along the way. Watching her smile as she voluntarily spoke to their other friends made Liv's heart feel warm as Liv raised her hand and pushed a strand of her hair back behind her ear, her smile creeping across her lips. 

She had, of course, wanted to feel this way for a long time now, wanting nothing more than to see Ambur get what she wanted and to be happy, and was ever thankful that she had decided to talk to that giant awkward girl in the bathroom on the first day of school. As she watched Ambur laugh and even smile with her lips parted ear to ear Liv couldn't help but blush again, basking in her friend's beauty. Her skin seemed to glow now and as she looked on she slowly realized that not only was Ambur smiling, but Bronzine was too. 

Ambur becoming happier had had a really positive effect on the group, after all, bringing all their spirits up with hers, and as Olivier continued to watch her she eventually found Ambur smiling back down at her as the rest of the group continued to hold their conversation. After a moment Ambur's cheeks became rosy as well before Ambur felt Liv's hand rest upon her own under the table before Liv spoke up. 

“He doesn't know what he's missing.”

_End of Chapter_


	10. Volume 1 Chapter 10: Clarity

“Hey,” she whispered as she placed her hand on his chest. They lay still in the dark of their dorm room, Mydnight looking over to the other side of the room to find that Bronzine and Ambur were still asleep. As they had left them, each of their partners still had their headphones in and seemed to be fast asleep, even after all the noise the couple had just made. 

"Ya?" He asked as he looked back down to her, her head lay on his chest, pink hair spread all over him. 

She was silent for several seconds and he could feel her breathing heavily as her hand tensed and relaxed several times, seemingly trying to think about her next words carefully. Mydnight, however, began to space out, beginning to think to himself about his actions over the short amount of time that he had been at the school with them. 

He was becoming more and more aware of his decisions lately as the fog in his head began to slowly thin out. After the spell had been placed on him he had become much more of an animal than a person and it was only in these moments of clarity after exhausting himself with Rosa that his thoughts were clear and he could hear his conscience screaming at him. 

It was always the same however and he knew that by the time he woke up tomorrow he would be back to his new self. Ignoring his friends and falling deeper into Rosaria's grasp, relying on her far too much. There was only one thing he was thankful for in all of this and it did help lift some of the guilt off of his shoulders. 

He couldn't remember any of it. 

Every single time that Rosa had seduced him and gotten him into bed he had blacked out and forgotten everything they had done. Obviously, he wasn't stupid and he knew that they were having sex on a very regular basis, but his actions during the sex were a complete mystery to him. She had told him on several occasions how assertive he had been and that she had liked each of their encounters, but he couldn't recall if he had actually liked it or not. 

The problem was that through all of their encounters and all the time he spent with her it sort of felt like he was on autopilot all of the time. Like his body just wanted Rosa around to deal with his cravings, and in truth, he really didn't even care for her as anything more than a teammate. 

He could see how badly she treated everyone around him but he was always too on edge from the spell to care or to notice in the moment. Every day was just a fog until they would get back to their room and do it, only to get this short moment of clarity every time. He had been slowly feeling slightly better of course but nothing really substantial, and he cursed himself day in and day out for ignoring all of Ambur's offers to help him train his new form. 

'Speaking of Ambur', he thought as he looked over to her again. She was different somehow. It was too dark for him to tell exactly, of course, his enhanced senses helped but he just couldn't seem to pin down what it was about her that had changed. It seemed like every time he had a clear look at her now that she was somebody else. He had in fact mistaken her for someone else several times now and he couldn't quite see through the haze enough to tell just how much different she really was now. 

He just couldn't concentrate on anything anymore, to tell the truth. Classes were a nightmare, and he was only not flunking because all of the teachers worked for Ozpin and were told that he was going through something very difficult at the moment. Not to mention he felt like he hadn't actually spent any time with his best friend at all for weeks. Back at Signal, he would have never dreamed of a time when he would hang out with Bronzine so infrequently and for the life of him, he couldn't understand why they hadn't been together more recently. 

He wasn't sure but it felt like every waking moment had been spent with Rosa lately, and he couldn't even tell how long they had been seeing each other this way. “I love you...” he heard as his ears perked up and the color ran from his face. He wasn't sure if he had heard it in his head or if those were the words Rosa had just said to him. He had been so lost in his thoughts that he had forgotten she had something to say to him. 

After a moment of silence, however, he got his answer as she spoke up again, "Did you hear me? Are you asleep?" She asked as she began to stir. She propped herself up on her arms as she turned over to look up at him. 

“Ya I..sorry I heard you,” he began as he struggled to find words to give her. “I've just never...” He paused, realizing that he didn't actually need to come up with an excuse because he had a real one to use. “No one's ever said that to me before so you kinda...shocked me.”

“Wait...” she said softly as she looked up at him. “Like...ever?”

"Well, Ya...Never had a girlfriend before...I don't have any family. Would have been a little weird for Qrow to tell me he loves me," he smirked. 

“I mean I guess that makes sense but that's horrible,” she thought aloud. “I'm sorry if I like...rushed it or anything,” she apologized. 

“No no it's...it's okay don't apologize for that.”

"Well still...I don't expect you to say it back unless you mean it so for now just forget I brought it up okay?" She smiled before leaning up and kissing him on the cheek before reclaiming her sleeping position on his chest. 

He lay there for a minute before looking around the room again, checking to make sure once again that they hadn't woken up their teammates, through this time, in the darkness of the night he found a bright red pair of eyes staring back at him. 

'Ooohhhh man,' he thought to himself as he watched his leader's eyes stare back at him softly. Ambur had woken up and he didn't know how much she had heard but from the look of her eyes, he felt that she had at least heard what he had said back to Rosa. She looked sad as if she felt sorry for him. But before he could even get the chance to do anything about it he saw her roll over to the edge of her bed and stand up, pulling on her hoodie in the darkness to cover up her minimal sleeping clothes, the hoodie stretching down past her shorts. 

As she pulled her hair free from the back of the shirt she headed for the door, slipping out as quietly as she could. Mydnight, in turn, tapped his hand on Rosa's shoulder and began to slide out from under her. "Hey, I gotta use the bathroom okay?" He lied to get her off of him. 

"Ugh fine..." She groaned before rolling over and letting him up. As quickly as he could he pulled on his black t-shirt and he was already wearing a loose-fitting pair of athletic jeans as he always did to bed. He left the room as quietly as he could and began to listen in the hallways, trying to figure out which was Ambur had gone. He quickly found that she had headed for the stairs so he chased after her, finding her leaning up against the banister of their floor that overlooked the large foyer of the dorm building. There were no lights on but the moon shone through the large windows beautifully. 

“Ambur...” he sighed out softly, catching her attention, not having heard him coming. 

“Ah!” She turned around quickly only to find Mydnight walking toward her. “Gosh don't scare me like that!” She whispered loudly, not wanting to wake anyone up. 

"Sorry, I uh...I just wanted to see if...you were okay?" He said as he walked up beside her and leaned up against the railing as well. 

“Ye...yeah I uh...” she began, surprised that he seemed to care. “I'm fine why do you ask?”

“Well because I know you heard what just happened in there and your eyes spoke volumes to me...” he looked to her with a small fake smile on his lips. She exhaled deeply as she leaned back into the railing beside him and replied. 

“Ya...Sorry I wasn't trying to eavesdrop or anything...”

"No, it's fine don't be sorry for that...It's your room too after all. We've been kind of...forgetting that you two live there too lately and it's...not very nice of us..." 

Ambur looked to him with surprise plastered all over her face. “Well...thank you for realizing that I guess...and I'm...really sorry about...what you said I-” she began before he waved his hand to cut her off. 

“Don't...worry about it okay it's not like it's your fault or anything it's just...weird,” he sighs. “I'm not like mad about it or anything it's just really weird to hear those words from someone for the first time...”

“I would imagine it would be ya...” She said softly as she looked back out the window to the moon. 

“Especially...” he began before thinking better of his statement and shaking his head. 

“What?” she asked nervously. 

Mydnight looked over to her, their eyes meeting briefly before he looked away from her again. “Especially like that...from her.”

“Well...what do you mean?”

“I mean...” he begins before looking behind him to make sure no one else is around. “What if I don't...feel the same? What if I don't even know HOW to feel the same?”

Ambur went dead silent as his eyes widened, her mind racing to try and find words to say back to him without giving her excitement away. Her heart pounded as his words washed through her brain and she strained herself to keep her emotions under control. She cleared her throat and tried to focus before replying, “Well...I uh...I don't really know what to say. I've never been in your position before you know? I've never dated anybody or...told someone I love them, other than my family anyway,” she says as she looks back into his eyes. 

"Really?" he asked, seeming shocked as he looked her all over again, this time with the moonlight helping his eyes focus on her. "Is something...different about you?" He asked without realizing that the words had come out of his mouth, having meant to keep them in his head. 

"Uh..." she blushed as she brushed some of the hair out of her face. "I mean I...Ya," she fumbled. "Liv has been helping me out with my wardrobe and I...got my hair cut," she said quickly as she pointed to it, "No more black. And I've been...tanning a little," she managed to get out nervously as she felt his eyes follow her words up and down her body. 

"Sorry, I...probably should have noticed that I've just...been in such a fog lately. Even now I feel kinda...not drunk but like...I'm not all here you know?" 

“Ya trust me we have noticed...” She sighed as she put her arm on his back. “You haven't spoken to me or Bronzine for more than ten seconds in months Mydnight.”

“Months?!” he asked a bit loud before looking around, realizing how loud he had reacted before quieting back down. “What do you mean months?”

“Mydnight...you haven't been coming to me to help you with your...semblance in over a month...that's probably why you're still in such a fog.”

"Jeez, I...I didn't realize it had been that...long," he groaned as he began to hold his head in his hands, clearly seeming distressed. "God that makes a lot of sense." 

“Hey hey come on,” she soothes, holding his hands, “Look at me,” she suggests as he strains to open his eyes and look up at her. “Come on,” she begins to lead him toward the stairs.

As they come outside in the courtyard the night air begins to chill her exposed skin but she tries to ignore it as she leads Mydnight out into the grassy area of the school, looking around to make sure no one has followed them. "Why don't you change now and get a little exercise in, maybe it will help huh?" 

“Are you sure that's a good idea? So close to the school? I don't know if I can control myself I haven't changed since...well since the last time you were with me...”

“Wait...really?” She asks dumbfounded. “Mydnight's it's been weeks have you really not changed?”

"Well, why would I if I wasn't with you?" He groaned back to her. 

“Well I thought that...maybe you had told Rosa and you were training with her instead...”

"What? No, I haven't told her. Oz told us to keep it a secret didn't he?" 

Another wave of relief made it's way through Ambur's body as she took a deep breath and smiled to herself. "Yes you're right I'm sorry...Yes, I am sure you should change right now and don't worry about the school, I'm right here," she says softly as she holds his face in her hands. "I'm not gonna let you hurt anybody okay?" 

“...Okay,” he forced a smile out before darkness began to spill off of his body as he began to transform. 

/

The next morning team AMBR stood in Ozpin's office waiting for the headmaster to show up and explain why he had called them there. For once all four members stood together and were actually seemingly able to keep up a halfway decent conversation. 

Mydnight's fog had seemed to been lifted noticeably as he had actually been able to speak to Ambur and Bronzine for more than a single moment this morning. Rosa didn't seem too incredibly mad about it either and Ambur chalked it up to her possibly being in too good of a mood from confessing to Mydnight the night before. She still hung all over him of course, never leaving his side for a moment but she did seem to be laying off of some of the meaner things that usually came flying out of her mouth. 

Ambur wondered to herself if she could actually be changing but she silently shook the thoughts from her head. It was more likely that Rosaria simply saw that Mydnight wasn't in such a haze today and that she didn't want to be such a bitch in front of him if he was more likely to notice it and take offense to her actions. 

“Ah, good to see you all made it,” they hear from the elevator as the doors open and their headmaster walks inside. 

“Nice to see you too professor,” Ambur answered politely as he walks by the group of students and takes his place at his desk. “Do you have a mission for us?” She guessed.

"Indeed I do, your first mission as a team will be given to you today and I just wanted to first give you a little..." he paused as he searched for the right words as he looked to Mydnight and Ambur specifically, "Checkup, as it were. See how you are all getting along." 

"Well," Ambur said quietly as she inhaled before looking across to her teammate's faces. "Not bad. We mostly get along just fine," she couldn't help but slightly lie but she knew that Ozpin was well aware of their issues already and probably was asking more about Mydnight's condition than anything else. "I for one feel fine and ready to finally get out there on our first mission but," she paused again as she looked back to her partner, "How about you guys?" 

“It'll be nice to get away for a little while so ya I'm ready,” Bronzine spoke first before Rosa grabbed on to Mydnight's hand and answered. 

“Absolutely, we are ready.”

Mydnight looked to her face briefly before looking back to Ambur and then down to the sitting professor, “Ya I uh...I'm feeling a little better today so ya. Ready,” he said quietly as he looked back to Ambur, finding her still looking back into his golden eyes. 

"Right! Well then," Oz said as he stood back up from his chair and placed his scroll on his desk, a projection beginning to display out from it. "If that's the case then lets dive right in shall we?" He asked rhetorically as he pointed to the display. "Your mission is to clear a potential infestation of Grimm at a town not too far from our borders. Glade," he says as the display shifts to a map of the region and shows a clear route to the smaller town just to the southwest of Vale, "just as every other town and city makes regular check-ins daily to make sure that they do not require help from the larger kingdoms. Glade has missed the check-in for the last two days and no one has shown up in person to explain. 

As he says this the elevator doors open again and this time Qrow walks out, crossing the room till he is standing beside Ozpin. "Normally," the headmaster begins again, "We would be sending you out with one of our own teachers for a mission such as this, however, given the circumstances, Qrow has volunteered himself to join you and miss a few days teaching at Signal instead." 

“Oh?” Ambur asked aloud, “That's great!” She let out excitedly as she looked back to Mydnight quickly. “Thank you,” she smiled to Qrow. 

“Don't mention it,” Qrow smirks before taking over. “Normally your first mission wouldn't be quite so dangerous but you kid's are...quite clearly the top fighters in your class so a potential small horde of Grimm really shouldn't be that difficult for you. But just in case you are overwhelmed I will be there to help you.”

'Ya and you'll be there to keep an eye on me right,' Mydnight thought to himself as he reflexively rolled his eyes before smiling. “I guess that's for the best,” he sighed out loud as Qrow looked to his nephew and nodded his head, knowing that Mydnight knew exactly what was really going on. 

"In addition, we will be clearing the railroad tracks if need be. The train down to the city runs only twice a week and the one did make it so hopefully, the line isn't damaged. The trip is only about a day from here on foot so it is possible this mission could take several days, make sure to pack accordingly," Qrow speaks up again. 

As all the students nod their heads Qrow speaks one last time, “Alright. We leave tomorrow morning so make sure you all get totally packed up tonight and maybe get in a good work out to loosen up okay?” he says as Ozpin waves his hand at them, signaling them they are free to go about their day. 

"Yes sir," Ambur answers happily as she turns and begins to lead her team back toward the elevator, heading inside and down to the ground floor. As they walk out of the headmasters building she pulls out her scroll and pulls up Liv's number. "Alright you all heard him, make sure you pack your stuff today and tonight before we go to bed we will have a meeting and check each other's bags so no one forgets anything okay?" 

"Huh..." Rosa groans as she exhales deeply, seemingly dropping her appearance she was keeping up in Ozpin's office. "Ya ya fine whatever we will, come on," she says as she tugs on Mydnight's arm, intending to lead him away from their teammates but he doesn't budge at first. 

“Well...” Mydnight starts quietly before looking to Ambur. “What are you guys gonna do today?”

“Well,” Ambur says with a soft smile. “I was gonna see if Liv wanted to go to the gym for a little while and I mean,” she says shyly as she looks to Bronzine and then back to Mydnight, “Yall can come along if you want to.”

“Pfffff sure,” Bronzine shrugs his shoulders, “He said stay lose and be ready so why not.”

“Ya no thanks,” Rosa scoffs as she looks Ambur up and down, “Why do you even go there if you're already so strong? Probably just an excuse to show your tits off,” she rolls her eyes before grabbing onto Mydnight's hand even harder and beginning to drag him away.

As Mydnight sighs he looks to Ambur, mouthing the words 'I'm Sorry' to his team leader as her smile ran away from her face and she looked to the ground, shuffling her feet in place as the two got farther and farther away from them. 

"What a total bitch," Bronzine lets out at a normal speaking level, not even trying to hide his disgust for his partner as he saw Mydnight's ears perk up as his shoulders sank, following his girlfriend wherever she was leading him. He knew that his best friend had heard him but at this point, he didn't care. "Come on," he sighed softly as he placed a hand on Ambur's shoulder, causing her to look down into his eyes. "Don't listen to her alright you know she's a crappy person. Doesn't matter what she thinks right?" he smiles to her. 

“...Ya,” she smiled slowly as she shook her head. “Ya you're right,” she nodded before looking back down to her scroll and pressing the call button on Liv's entry. 

/

The next morning the team walked out of their room as quietly as they could, trying not to wake the students in the rooms adjacent to them as they had been all morning. All their belongings had been packed the night before and each was ready to meet Qrow at Signal Academy on the way out of Vale. As they boarded the shuttle all was quiet, none of them had the energy to speak to each other yet as the sun was just now peaking up over the horizon in the distance. 

As they landed Ambur finally spoke up, “Coffee?” She simply asked as she led them down the empty city streets. 

“Is anyone open this early?” Bronzine asked. 

“Hopefully ya,” Mydnight confirmed as Rosa took hold of his hand and began to walk beside him, wiping her eyes as she had been all morning. 

"Well, we can check a few places then," Ambur confirms as she heads down another street toward the coffee shop that she and Liv had been frequenting since moving in at Beacon. Surprised to find it open the team walks inside and places their orders, Mydnight pacing an extra order for Qrow, their spirits slightly lifted as they received their drinks and headed back out to the streets and walked toward Signal Academy. 

Upon arrival, they found Qrow on the front steps of the school sitting and staring at what looked to be a photograph, but before anyone could get a look at it he heard them coming and stood, shoving it down into his back pocket. 

“See you all made it just fine,” he said before looking down to his scroll, “On time too,” he smiled as Mydnight handed him the drink he ordered for him. “Thanks,” Qrow said as he patted Mydnight on the shoulder before grabbing his own bag from the steps beside him and slinging it over his shoulder. 

“No problem,” Mydnight smiled back as Qrow looked to Ambur. 

“Everybody got everything?” He asked her. 

“Triple checked,” she smiled and gave him a thumbs up before sipping her drink. 

“You certainly did,” Rosa groaned as she rolled her eyes and began to walk away from the group. “Can we get a move on please?”

Qrow looked to Ambur in for answers but all Ambur could do was shrug her shoulders as always. "She's always like this I got nothing," she assured him before Qrow too shrugged his shoulders and the group began to walk to catch up with her, Qrow and Ambur eventually overtaking the rest of the group so Qrow could lead them in the right direction. "So are we taking a train or something or are we walking all the way there?" 

"Well, part of the mission is for me to assess how capable you all are at hoofing it when necessary and to observe your survival skills. Part of a huntsman's job is to be able to survive in the field if they become lost or they need to track something or someone through the wild." 

“Fair enough,” she sighs as she downs the last of her coffee and drops it in a trashcan along the sidewalk as they grow closer to the edge of the city. “I told you guys packing toilet paper was a good idea,” she says as she sticks her pointer finger up in the air without turning back to look at them, sending the boys and Qrow into a small laughing fit. 

As he comes down from his laughing fit however Mydnight finds himself captivated by the morning light reflecting off of his leader's white hair. The morning sun had risen just enough to make the sky turn wondrous shades of purple and orange and as they came to the southern gate of the city, where there were no buildings in the way obstructing the beautiful sight. 

As they continued walking out onto the road he couldn't help but watch as Ambur walked ahead of him, the sun kissing her skin and framing her perfectly as he found himself unable to look away. The sun shone through the dwindling fog in his mind as the world seemed quiet for the first time in months. 

“Hey,” Rosa said as she finally grew impatient and smacked her hand into his arm, pulling him out of his dazed state. 

“Wha...what?” he asked as he looked to her quickly before reflexively looking back at Ambur. 

“What are you looking at?” She asked, assuming that his eyes were fixed on Ambur backside.

“No-nothing just the...” He says nervously before calming himself and closing his eyes for a moment before speaking more clearly. Though as he spoke he saw Ambur turn her head to the right to look back at them with curiosity and a small blush on her face. 

“I've...never really noticed before how beautiful the sunrise can be.”

_End of Chapter_


	11. Volume 1 Chapter 11: Teamwork

“Goooodddddddd are we there yet?” Rosa whined as she let her head lean back, practically yelling her words up into the sky. “We've been walking foreverrrrrr.”

"It's only been like four hours Rosa we have a long way to go," Ambur huffed, growing ever more impatient with her teammates. "He said a day's trip." 

“We got a long way left to go so why not just try to find something to occupy yourself?” Qrow scolded.

"I already play games on my phone for so long that my battery is dead what more do you want from me?" She complained. 

“I want you to act like a grown adult and not like a whining child,” Qrow retorted as he shot an annoyed look back to the pink haired girl. 

“Ugh,” she let out as she rolled her eyes and shut her mouth, shifting the weight of her bag on her shoulders. “Man why did you make us pack so much...” she sighed.

“I didn't make you pack four changes of clothes, you chose to do that,” Ambur rolled her eyes without looking back at her. “Besides the boys aren't complaining are they?”

“Huhhh...” she sighed loudly again before Ambur stopped in her tracks and looked back to Rosa. 

"If I carry your bag for you will you promise to stop bitching? Please?" Ambur let out as her annoyance for their teammate began to boil over. 

“Probly not,” Rosa confessed as she walked straight by her, brushing past her leader's outstretched hand. “Besides I don't need you showing off any more than you already do in front of my boyfriend thank you very much.”

Ambur rolled her eyes again as she silently clenched her fists and looked up to the sky mouthing the words 'why me,' at the sky. She finally began to walk again, this time at the back of the pack. “So all that stuff about you guys getting along great wasn't entirely true huh?” Qrow chuckles to himself. 

"Gee what gave that away," Ambur let out as she quickly overtook the rest of the pack again, the two pulling ahead of her other teammates. "It's not for lack of trying either, she's been a total cunt since day one," Ambur growled lowly so as for Rosa not to hear her. 

"Well, what's her deal?" 

"She just hasn't ever given me a chance. Ever since she took one look at me she decided I shouldn't be the leader and that I wasn't good enough. Clearly, your nephew agrees enough to not correct her," she says softly as her mood sours. 

"Hmmm," Qrow smirked as he turned around and began to walk backward with his hands behind his head. "Is she right kid?" He asks, drawing Ambur's attention back to Qrow in shock. Ambur, of course, knew that Mydnight would have heard everything she had said but hadn't expected Qrow to create an even more awkward situation out of it. 

Mydnight was silent for a moment as his attention shifted from Rosa to his uncle and finally to Ambur. "No...Ambur is our leader and she hasn't given us any reason to not follow her," he admits as he hears Rosa gasp as if she were insulted by his words. Her hand quickly snapped away from his as she folded her arms over her abdomen and looked away from him. 

“Good answer,” Qrow smiles as he turns back around and places his hand on Ambur's shoulder, “See? Three out of four is pretty good.”

Ambur felt bad at first about Qrow calling Mydnight out but his answer had put a smile on her face, even if she was a bit sorry for him that he had angered Rosa. But how sorry could she really be after all? After everything Rosa had done and said on Ambur's account over their time at the school had been absolutely horrible and recently Ambur had begun to completely give up on ever convincing her teammate that their team structure was exactly the way it was meant to be. 

As they walked on in relative silence the minutes and indeed hours seemed to drag by, the group stopping for lunch and a bathroom break along the way only to continue on down the path until the inevitable began to happen as they all heard growls from Grimm within the trees bordering the lonely dirt road. After such a long day of walking around with a negativity fountain in Rosa, they had finally been surrounded, Qrow watching without worry as several Beowolves and Ursa waltzed out of the forest and surrounded them. 

“You all good to show me what you've got?” He asked as he put his hand on his sword in its folded up state on his back. 

“Yes,” Ambur said as she too reached back and drew her massive blade from her back, readying it for attack as her companions did the same, all save for Rosa who simply began to channel her aura into her fists. 

Qrow simply began to dodge past the Grimm which came at him, weaving in between the hulking beasts until he found himself on the outside of the pack looking in before jumping up onto a tree branch in order to find a better vantage point to watch from. He looked on as Ambur charged forward and with relative ease caught an Ursa lunging at her, swinging her blade upward through it before it's attack could connect. 

Over the course of the fight, Qrow would find Ambur's fighting style rather simple and blunt, but he supposed that with her strength she didn't really ever need to develop a more complex style to fight with. She was so capable of deflecting and absorbing hits simply by parrying them or counterattacking from a greater distance with her lengthy blade that she really didn't need to use very much of her Aura to fight. 

Of course, she did, in fact, need her semblance to wield the weapon, especially in the years prior, but with Olivier convincing her to begin using the gym, Ambur had found the heavy blade becoming lighter and lighter in her grasp as her own strength grew. She had even begun to think that a day may come in the next few years where she wouldn't need to make use of her aura to swing it crudely, though she was no fool and knew that she would need her semblance to fight effectively with the weapon. 

Qrow's attention, however, was quickly stolen by Rosa. He had no need to watch Mydnight fight as he could tell that the fog in the boy's head was much clearer than normal today. Qrow knew that with a level head Mydnight could handle this pack of Grimm by himself if he needed to, he had trained the wolf boy after all and knew very well what he was capable of. 

Mydnight was one of the more natural fighters Qrow had ever seen in fact, surmising that if he stayed on this path that Mydnight would more than likely be a more successful and accomplished Huntsman than even Qrow had become. That was even before Oz had given Mydnight his powers and Qrow knew that if Mydnight could master his new abilities he could become one of the most powerful Huntsmen that Remnant had seen thus far. 

As he watched Rosa move he felt himself rather engrossed in her fighting style, wondering where she had learned to fight from. He did find it a bit cocky of her to not carry a weapon at all in case of emergencies but he had been told by Oz about her incredible reserves of Aura. She had never once come even close to running out of energy in any of her fights at her last training academy and none thus far at beacon either. 

Not only that but her attacks were stunningly powerful, which Qrow had seen recordings of from Glynda's sparring class. It would only take one or two landed hits on another student from Rosa's aura to burn up her opponent's and end the matches. The other young adults in their grade were lucky that she wasn't as physically abusive toward others as she was verbal. If even a single hit of her's were to touch a humanoid opponent it would deal much more physical damage than any sharp or blunt weapon. Her incredible use of Aura manipulation was quite unprecedented by this point and her semblance was so far, very unique. 

Qrow knew all too well that most people thought of their semblance as a truly one of a kind superpower and while in some cases this was true, it could never be true one hundred percent of the time. At first, he was sure that semblances had been truly unique, but over dozens of generations, there had become many copies. There were just too many people out there for each one to be entirely unique. 

However, as his mind began to wander his thoughts began to dwell on Mydnight again, thinking about how he had never been able to get his younger counterpart to discover his semblance. He had wanted to at least have it figured out by the time the wolf had arrived at Beacon, but in all four years of Qrow training closely with Mydnight at Signal, he had never been able to pull the power out of him. 

At first, it had bothered Mydnight greatly since he began to think that something was wrong with him. But as they grew together both of them began to realize that the fact was that Mydnight hadn't ever NEEDED his semblance to activate. Thus far he had always been strong enough to accomplish the task at hand, even when Qrow had tried to push him beyond his limits he had found other ways around the problem. 

As the attack began to subside and the last of the Grimm began to fade away into clouds of smoke Qrow let go his grip on his weapon and jumped down from the tree, walking back over to the team with a smile on his lips as he placed a hand on Ambur's shoulder. "Not bad, little long but good stuff." 

“You think we could have done that faster?” She replied as she raised her eyebrow.

“Sure,” he answered as he turned away and began to walk down the path, the team following after him. “If you had fought as a team instead of four individual fighters who happen to be on the same side.”

“Ya well SOME people,” Ambur emphasized as she gave Rosa a stink eye, “Don't show up to team exercises so we can only work SO well together ya know?” She smiled back up to Qrow as he laughed, hearing Rosa grumble behind them. 

“Sounds about right,” he said as he raised his hands behind his head as they continued down the road. “You kids sound an awful lot like we used to be,” he said softly to himself, Ambur giving him a confused look.

/

As night fell the group began to see lights in the distance along the road, eventually coming to realize that they were street lamps lining the sides of the road.

“Alright, keep on guard, we are getting close now,” Qrow said as this time he elected to actually draw his weapon.

Seeing him do this the students followed suit and began to pay attention to their surroundings more, the group realizing that it was very quiet. Even as they came up to the gates of the small town they could hear no voices, and the large wooden gate was even slightly ajar. Qrow took the lead, pushing the gate open as slowly as he could, peeking around the large structure and into the town.

“What do you see?” Ambur asked as she walked up beside him, nudging the gate open a little more so as to stand beside him. 

“Nothing there's...nobody around,” he said with concern in his voice. 

As the group moved through the gate and down the first road toward the center of town they all kept their eyes open, looking around for any movement. Though as they got deeper and deeper into town they came to realize that all was still quiet, no movement anywhere of any kind. 

“People's lights are still on but it's like,” Mydnight began softly as his ears twitched from side to side, trying to pick up any approaching noise. “Like they all just left?”

"Well they have to be somewhere," Qrow surmised, "There are no bodies anywhere." 

“Could the Grimm have carried them off?”

“Surely not all of them, this town has a pretty decent population, it would take a pack of Grimm a lot more than three days to dispose of all the bodies and besides,” he said as he looked around again, “There's no blood anywhere either.”

 

“Well does Glade have an alarm for Grimm attacks?” Ambur asked thoughtfully, “Like Vale does?”

“They should,” Qrow smirked, “Good thought, come on,” He says as they turn down another road, heading for the town hall. As they find the large building Mydnight speaks up again. 

“Well unless there are silent Grimm that I don't know about you guys can relax there’s still no movement anywhere around us.”

"Don't relax too much," Qrow retorts as he walks up to the door of the town hall and slowly turns the knob and the door begins to creak open slowly, Qrow poking his head inside again to check for any traps before he and Ambur walked inside, leaving the others outside to guard the entrance. 

“See anything?” She asks as she scans the room for any sort of interface or computer.

"Yep," Qrow answers as he points to the computer at the reception desk. Qrow proceeds to the computer and places his scroll atop it before pressing a pop-up option on his screen. "Running diagnostics," he says as he looks back to Ambur. Ambur joins him at the desk and watches the scroll run through the town systems. 

“It says the alarm did go off successfully,” Ambur sighs in relief. “But where are they all supposed to go in the event of an attack?”

“Must be a shelter in town or maybe a cave nearby, look around there must be an evacuation plan posted in here somewhere.”

As the pair begins to look however they hear the door creak open again as Mydnight pokes his head in. "We got incoming Grimm. They are pretty far out but I can tell they are coming this way." 

“How many?” Qrow asks as he pulls papers down off of a bulletin board to get at the older notices at the back. 

“Too far to tell so far but they are on the ground and in the air.”

"Alright keep an eye out we should be ready to move in just a bit," Ambur says back to him as she rifles through papers on the receptionist's desk. As she does, however, she can't help but notice the door hasn't closed, feeling her partner's eyes rested on her still. "Mydnight?" She asks as she looks back up to him, finding him staring back at her as expected. "You okay?" 

"Huh?" He jolts as he realizes he is staring at her again, "Ya no I'm...fine sorry," he sighs as he shakes his head and walks out of the building and the door closes. 

“Man what is up with the two of you,” Qrow laughs, having watched the exchange before looking back to the board. 

“What do you mean?” Ambur blushes, trying to dodge the subject. “He's just been a little fuzzy lately because of the spell and I've been trying to get him on track with getting a handle on it more lately.”

“Ya? That all?” Qrow smirks as he continues to pull papers down. “Cus it seems an awful lot like he can't keep his eyes off of you all of a sudden.”

"Yes, I'm sure..." Ambur sulks, "He doesn't see me like that okay?" 

“Well even if that were true,” he says softly as he looks up and tries to focus on the top line of papers on the crowded board. “I'd much rather he have his eyes on someone like you than on the girl with the stick up her ass.”

“Hah,” Ambur huffs, “Well...thanks I guess but I don't think I'll ever get a chance.”

“You did wait forever to finally try and get him to notice you.”

“W...wait you,” Ambur says as her heart begins to race and cheeks flush, “You knew?”

"Well duh," Qrow looks at her with a confused look, "Ambur I taught you two in the same class for four years. How blind would I need to be to not notice you staring at him the ENTIRE time," he laughed out. "Just wish you found your confidence a little earlier so I wouldn't have to pretend to be supportive of his current relationship choices." 

“...You and me both...” She sulked before looking back up to him. “So...you think the change was...good?”

“So far it seems to be ya,” he says mindlessly as he pulls one more paper down from the wall and begins to read it before turning around to face her, finding her leaning against a table with her arms folded over her exposed midriff. “Confidence is good as long as you don't get too full of yourself.”

"No, I mean..." She began nervously, her blush intensifying, "Like," she began again before she began to gesture to herself, trying to get him to understand that she meant her new look. 

“Oh,” Qrow said as he looked away from her and began to run his hand through his hair. “Well not to be...weird about it,” he said as he began to head to the door. “It looks good on you.”

“Well like...you don't think like I look...like a...slut or anything?” She asked nervously again as she began to follow him to the door, causing him to sigh and turn back toward her with a smile on his face. 

“No Ambur,” he chuckled out, “I think it's your body and you get to decide what you want to put on it. And an opinion coming from anyone other than you doesn't matter.”

Ambur couldn't help but smile as her shoulders sank and she began to relax. “Thank you,” she breathed out in relief. 

“But,” Qrow said with a smile before turning around, “If you ARE looking for opinions, I think Mydnight's might be a better one for you to get. I think you'll get the chance, they don't look fit to last,” he says before pulling the door open so the pair can rejoin the rest of the team. “We found their evacuation plans, there's a large bunker a few streets over.”

“Well we need to deal with the Grimm first, they are getting closer,” Mydnight says as the students all draw their weapons, Bronzine leaving his as a bow and Ambur dividing her large blade into two.

“They should have come out of the bunker by now, no reason to stay inside for three days unless there's some serious negativity going on here to keep bringing the Grimm back,” Bronzine adds as the group cautiously begins to walk toward the location on the map. 

As they make it to the center of the town they find more and more of the buildings have been damaged, more than likely by Grimm that were frustrated by not being able to pierce the bunker. So too they began to find trace amounts of blood on the stone walkways from people who were likely the last few stragglers to make it to the bunker and were injured by the attacking monsters. 

“Still no bodies though,” Ambur sighed in relief as she looked back up to the sky and was now able to see the pack of approaching Grimm in the air. “Everyone ready?”

“As we can be,” Rosa answered sarcastically as they began to feel the ground rumbling slightly as the pack of Grimm on the ground rounded a street corner and came into view. None of them were especially big but there were quite a number of them, both on the ground and in the air. As they came in range Bronzine began firing arrow after arrow at the ones in the air as Qrow too began to fire at them, realizing that just one bow wouldn't be able to have enough crowd control on a flock of flying Grimm. 

As several of the flying Grimm began to shoot their feathers down upon the group Rosa began to realize that she could use her aura projections to block the incoming attack from hitting Bronzine and Qrow, and so she did while Ambur and Mydnight bolted toward the Grimm on the ground. She would put up small individual shields in front of herself, Qrow and her partner every time the Grimm began to fire at them before shifting them out of the way so the boys could continue returning fire without hitting her projections.

Mydnight and Ambur, however, were disposing of their targets with even more incredible efficiency. Ambur could tell that Mydnight wasn't fighting at the top of his abilities because of the fog but the fact remained that he was still giving plenty to be impressed about. She hadn't often been privileged to see his scythe in action so far this year but the few times she had seen it she had loved it. It wasn't overly beautiful or artistic, but he had told her that it was only meant to be temporary, a work in progress. 

As most students had a name for their weapons, Mydnight had not yet thought of one for the scythe as he did not wish to brand it so early into its construction, before he really knew what he wanted the finished product to be. It was red and black and rather thin, easy to fold up and store on his back and for the time being and had no projectile functions. To be sure though, Mydnight could swing the long tool just fine and it had barely any trouble cutting the beasts to pieces. 

Ambur knew of course that he had picked the weapon to be more like Qrow. Mydnight had told her all about Qrow's weapon's multiple forms in the first few weeks of school and that someday he wished to get his scythe to a comparable level to his 'uncle's'.

Ambur had to have Mydnight's back a few times during the fight, as he seemed to randomly space out a few times, whether it be because of the fog or otherwise Ambur couldn't tell. But of the few times that she had had to block a blow for him she had found that his eyes were fixed on her, albeit glossed over. However, as the encounter came to an end the group appeared without a scratch as the last Grimm faded into smoke. "Not bad," Qrow affirmed as he looked around the group. "If you all would just get along you'd actually fight pretty good as a team," he smirked before walking up to the large iron door to the underground bunker. 

Ambur went with him and as he went to knock on the door she held her hand up, "Allow me," she said with a smile as Qrow realized it was the better option, stepping aside for her. Ambur took a decent wind up before smacking her fist against the door in a beat that a human would recognize, trying to make it distinct from the random blows of a Grimm. 

Seconds passed slowly as the group waited before Ambur raised her hand again to knock on the door a second time, though as she rose her arm the door began to open slowly before an older man showed himself, peeking around the door nervously, only to sigh in relief upon finding the group standing there instead of Grimm. “Are...are they gone?” he asked nervously as he looked up to the sky. 

“Gone for good,” Ambur smiled as she backed away from the door and let the man open the door the rest of the way. 

“Oh thank you,” he sighed again in relief before pulling out his scroll and pulling up a menu, pressing a button labeled 'All clear'. “We've been trapped in here for days. That group of Grimm kept leaving and coming back every hour the entire time but they couldn't break the door in.”

“Just doing our job sir,” Ambur smiled.

_End of Chapter_


	12. Volume 1 Chapter 12: Branded

Ambur sat alone on the wooden bench at Glade's train station as the sun began to sink below the trees, the soft breeze flowing through her hair as she stared at her hands folded in her lap. As she sat in silence, lost in thought, Mydnight watched from afar, not noticing Qrow walking up alongside him. 

Bronzine was off grabbing them some dinner to go and Rosa had run to the bathroom inside the station. “Kid,” he says as he elbows Mydnight in the arm gently.

“WHA-” he exclaims as he places his hand over his heart. “Don't do that!” he jabs back. His heart was racing from the surprise and he began to try and focus his breathing so he could calm down. “You're gonna make me change.”

“Well sorry,” he lets out as he scratches the back of his head, “but it looks to me like you've got bigger problems.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” he asks as his vision returns to his partner. 

“The fact that you can't stop checking out the girl on your team that you AREN'T dating,” he chuckles to himself as Mydnight's vision snaps back over to his uncle's face.

"What?" he asked with shock all over his face. "I am not!" 

"Jeez relax kid don't work yourself up," he snickered as he patted Mydnight on the shoulder. "You don't have to hide it from me, I'm not blind. Your eyes have been glued to her all day." 

“I!” he began before taking a breath. “...Have they?”

"...Have you...not noticed that? It's plain for everyone to see that you're enjoying the view." Qrow looks around as he says this, making sure to keep a lookout for Rosa. "Do you like'r or what?" 

"Well ya, of course, I like her, she's really nice." 

“No,” Qrow sighed as he elbowed Mydnight again, “I mean like do you like her more than that,” Qrow rolled his eyes. 

“Oh? Ooohhhhhh,” he let out slowly as he looked back to Ambur, watching her hair flow in the light wind. “I mean I hadn't...thought about it but...I dunno I mean...either way I'm dating Rosa...”

“Ya but do you actually...like Rosa?” Qrow asks skeptically as he raises an eyebrow.

Mydnight fell silent as he resumed watching Ambur, almost forgetting Qrow was even talking to him before he spoke up again. 

"Look kid I spent way too long dating the wrong people when I was your age when the person I actually wanted to be with was right in front of me...Don't make my mistakes," he said softly before nudging Mydnight forward, slightly forcing him to lose his balance as he stumbles toward his partner. "Just go talk to her...You don't need to try and win her heart or anything just...spend time with her, that's all she really wants." 

As Mydnight regained his balance he looked back over his shoulder to see Qrow shooing him toward his partner. He took a deep breath as he turned back to find his vision once again on Ambur before he began to walk toward her. As he came closer he found that she still hadn't noticed his presence however, seeming to be captivated by the sunset. 

“He-Hey,” he finally let out nervously as her attention moved to him. “You uh...you okay?”

"Hm?" She responded quietly before giving him a small smile. "Ya, I'm good just...watching the sunset while we wait. How about you?" 

"I'm uh...I'm okay I guess...as far as I know anyway. Mind if I uh.." he says softly as he points to the vacant seat beside her. 

Ambur couldn't believe what she was seeing. Mydnight actually seemed nervous around her for once, not to mention that he seemed to be showing interest in conversing with her on his own terms for the first time in months. “Ya sure,” she smiled up to him before looking back toward the sun. 

“Thanks...” he sighed out in some relief as he took the seat next to her. “Thanks by the way.”

“For what?” She asked without looking to him. 

“For having my back today I...I know I'm not exactly fighting as well as I could be I'm just...”

“Distracted?” She asked as she finished his sentence. As she said this she looked back to him, across the small space as their eyes locked. 

“Yee...yeah I guess that's the word for it...”

“You know uh...Mydnight...” She began as she looked down to her lap before he saw her shoulders sink as she sighed heavily. “I don't think your girlfriend is gonna appreciate it when she comes back and you and I are talking alone like this...” She said softly, almost too softly for a human to have heard.

Mydnight could tell that those weren't words that Ambur had wanted to come out of her mouth, that she was hiding something from him. "...Yeah, she probably won't," he said in return before he smiled and turned his attention back to the sun. "She'll live though." 

Ambur looked back up to him with a bit of surprise on her face, not being able to believe the words coming out of the wolf's mouth. “Aren't you afraid of what she will say?”

“Not...really no. Look I know she isn't...” he says before looking over his shoulder to make sure she still hasn't come back yet. “The nicest person...of all time.”

“...Mydnight?” Ambur asks as she raises an eyebrow. “She's a complete bitch twenty-four seven.”

“...Ya I know she is...”

“Doesn't that bother you...at all?” She asks. 

“Of course it does I just...didn't really realize it when I was in the haze...the more you bring me out of it the more I wonder how I managed to get myself involved with someone like her instead of-” he begins to say before cutting himself off, shocked at the words spilling out of his own mouth.

“...Instead of...what?” Ambur blushed.

“S-someone...else,” he answered as he began to hide his own feelings as well. “Literally anybody else,” he said with a fake smile and a small laugh. 

Ambur couldn't help but smile. She could tell that he was hiding something too but neither of them really wanted to press the matter just yet. She was happy though, very much so after hearing Mydnight finally confess that he couldn't stand Rosa. "So if it bothers you so much then...why not stand up to her about it or...leave her?" She suggested, not trying to sound too invested in the latter option. 

“Well I...I've been thinking...about that kinda stuff and I mean...you're right I should at least stand up to it and maybe see if she can change if she knows I don't like that about her but...something tells me this relationship wasn't built to last...you know?”

“Well,” Ambur says, trying as hard as she can to control the muscles in her face to prevent herself from smiling. “...We all kind of...feel the same way about you guys too so...I don't think you need me to answer that question...”

“Ya...I know it's uh...not hard to tell. Nor is it hard to understand...she treats all of you like garbage and I'm...” he begins before looking into Ambur's eyes again. “I'm really sorry that I've stood by and done nothing about it.”

Ambur couldn't help herself anymore. Her cheeks tightened as a smile stretched across her lips and her cheeks began to flush bright pink as his words flowed through her mind. "I mean...she is your first girlfriend, after all, right? Everyone needs some practice I guess." Of course, Ambur didn't truly believe that, if she did then she wouldn't have put so much effort into impressing Mydnight as she had never dated anyone either. 

“Hah...Ya I guess,” he sighed as they both looked back to the sun. 

“Well you know if...if you ever need some time away from her or...need someone to talk to about this kind of stuff then I...I'm here for you okay?”

Mydnight looked back into her eyes as she too looked back to him. "I know you are," he smiled as she watched the sunshine on his face and hair, it's image reflected in his golden eyes. 

"Hey!" They heard, ripping them out of the moment, both looking behind Mydnight to find Rosa walking up to them with a scowl across her face. "Back off my man, Barbie," she shouted as Ambur rolled her eyes. She prepared herself for the assault of Rosa's harmful words, only to be caught by surprise when Mydnight stood up and faced her, leaning down slightly to get into Rosa's face. 

“Stop calling her names already!” He yelled as Rosa froze, never having seen Mydnight get angry like this. His ears twitched and his tail had puffed up slightly as his voice filled with anger as he tried to control his temper. “Stop treating her like crap and stop treating me like you own me. I'm not your pet. I went over to talk to her, I sat down next to her and that doesn't give you the right to insult her. She's my partner Rosa and our team leader. Get used to it already," he said as he grit his teeth and turned away from her, walking away from the group and over to the platform's handrails which overlooked the train tracks. 

Rosa was stunned. Everyone was in fact. She couldn't believe that Mydnight had raised his voice at her and as she stood there fuming she couldn't help but look down to where Ambur sat on the bench. Eventually, all Rosaria could do was to grunt and huff until she walked away, heading to the other end of the platform to be alone without a word. 

As she moved, however, Ambur spotted Bronzine, who had been standing behind her for the entire lashing with an incredible grin on his face, clearly holding back laughter as he held their large take out boxes in his hands. Ambur looked over and found Qrow in very much the same state as Bronzine was and she couldn't help but smile as well. She hadn't taken Mydnight to be joking but he had certainly surprised her with his rebuttal to his overzealous girlfriend's comments. 

“Did that really just happen?” Bronzine laughed out as Ambur tried to stifle her own laughter. 

/

Ambur, Bronzine, Qrow, and Mydnight all sat together in a booth of their train car eating the take-out meals Bronzine had fetched for them. Rosa, still upset had elected to spend the journey in the sleeper coach rather than with them but they sure didn't mind. Mydnight did feel bad about how hard he had exploded on her but he did accept that she had had it coming. 

At first, he had sat in silence as his three companions chatted amongst themselves but eventually they had been able to cheer him up enough to the point where he had joined in their conversation. “Guess this takes the saying 'in the dog house' to a new level huh?” He said softly with a smirk as the group began to laugh. 

“Ya I would say so,” Bronzine finally was able to get out. “Man It's nice to have you back...”

“Ya sorry about...everything really. I'm sorry for absolutely everything I have done since the first day of school...I've been a really shitty friend...”

“As long as you know that and you fix it,” Bronzine shrugged. “I'm not gonna tell you that you're wrong because you're not,” he laughed as Mydnight nodded his head in agreement. 

“That's fair.”

“Well it's not...entirely your fault,” Ambur tried to reason before realizing that she couldn't explain why with Bronzine present. “But we are very glad to have you back.”

Mydnight's gaze fell upon her once again as he opened his mouth to speak before his lips shut once again, holding his question back as he pulled out his scroll. As the group continued to finish up their meals Ambur felt her scroll vibrate in her tight jean pocket. As she pulled the device out she found a message waiting for her from Mydnight, giving him a questioning glance across the table before opening the message. 

'Do you think we could...work with the wolf again tomorrow?' It read.

As she read it Mydnight could see a small smile creep across his partner's lips before she looked back up to him and nodded her head in agreement.

'Thank You,' he mouthed to her.

As the hours flew by the crew eventually found themselves arriving at the Vale station and filing out of the train, Rosa still clearly fuming about what had happened earlier that day. She still walked beside Mydnight however, seemingly determined to not let this one spat end their time together. As the group walked closer to the school Qrow stopped, “You kids get back to the school safe okay? I already sent Oz my report. See ya 'round,” he smiled as he turned down the street headed for home. 

“Thank you again,” Ambur smiled to him before he went, leading her team back to the shuttle bay to catch a flight home. 

As the group arrived on campus and walked up their stairs toward their dorm room Ambur shot a text to Olivier. As she received one back she spoke up, “I'm gonna catch up with Liv and see how their mission went.” The group then stopped outside their door as Ambur stopped outside of Liv's. “I think that went pretty well, all things considered. You all fought well and it seemed like we could actually do pretty well fighting together. But I need you guys to-” She says before being cut off by Rosa. 

“Show up to team exercises ya sure whatever we will be there...” She sulks as she opens their door and walks into their room, the boys giving Ambur a surprised look. 

"Well, that's...something?" Mydnight shrugged, not sure how to react to her outburst. 

“I'll take it,” Ambur sighed and shrugged before pointing her finger at her partner. “You should yell at her more often,” she smirked as Bronzine laughed his way into their room. “I'll uh...see you tomorrow huh? Just...text me after class I guess?” She blushed. 

“Ya I uh...I'll let you know,” he said with a thumbs up and walked into their room and shut the door behind him. Ambur let out an enormous sigh of relief before knocking on Liv's door.

“Come in,” she heard from her friend before she turned the handle and walked inside, closing the door and leaning back on it as she folded her hands over her midriff. “That bad huh?” Liv said with a frown. 

"No it uh...was actually really...really great," Ambur smiled before standing up straight again and walking over, taking a seat next to Liv. "I'm I interrupting?" She asked as she waved hello to Hunter, Caroline and Gretchen. The team was all sitting on their beds looking inward as if in a team meeting. 

“No no you're fine,” Gretchen answered before Liv spoke again. 

"Just wrapping up talking about today," she smiled to the Amazon. "What happened with you guys that was so good?" 

Ambur's smile beamed brightly as she lay back on Liv's bed with her hands behind her head. “Mydnight yelled at Rosa and I think it was the best moment of my entire life.”

“What?! Really?” Liv asked excitedly as she turned to face her friend, looking down and finding Ambur starring up at the ceiling. 

"Really really. The two of us were talking...kind of privately and she came up with her bad attitude and he just...stood up and actually took care of it," she blushed, unable to relax her face as he smiles continued to brighten the mood. 

“That's amazing!” Caroline said, clapping her hands together once. 

"Good for him," Hunter added as he pulled his scroll out of his pocket and lay back onto his bed. 

“For real. I can't believe he had it in him,” Liv said sarcastically. “About time. So you guys got along well? You and Mydnight?”

"Ya, we...we really did. Finally got to talk to him and...well Qrow seems to think that Mydnight can't...that he's uhhh..." she says softly before her voice trails off, unsure of how to finish her statement without getting her own hopes up. 

“Uhhhh what?” Liv asks.

"Ooh, that...that Mydnight and Rosa aren't really made to last...his words not mine." 

"Well, I certainly hope not. That boy would have to be a complete moron to stay with her. Did they not break up today?" 

"No, they didn't..." Ambur sulked for a moment before shaking her head, her smile returning to her lips. "But I think...they will...someday." 

“And you'll be there?” Liv asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I...I will be I think. You should have seen him. He was staring at me all day Liv. Qrow even told me as much. He couldn't keep his eyes off of me." 

Liv was silent for a few moments before she laid back on her bed as well, looking up to the ceiling with her hands folded on her stomach. "Well...I hope you get everything you're looking for with him...sooner or later," she said softly, prompting Ambur to look over to her, finding her friend looking up to the ceiling. 

“Thank you,” she smiled before she reached over and grabbed on to Liv's hand, seeing her friend exhale with a smile and a small blush crept across Liv's face to match Ambur's. 

/

'Hey, where did you wanna meet anyway?' Ambur typed into her scroll before sending the message to Mydnight. She walked through the halls on her own, toward their dorm room so she could change into something more comfortable before the two headed out. 

'I guess I'll meet you in our room, the other two have plans right after class and won't be going back to the room.' As she read the message her face began to get hot and her heart fluttered as it always did whenever she found herself alone in their bedroom with him. It didn't often happen and Ambur always found it hard to get anything done when she was alone with him. 

'Alright,' she texted back as she headed for their dorm room. Upon arrival she found that he was not there yet and decided she should try to get changed quickly, dropping her book bag onto her bed and skipping quickly over to their closet. Rifling through it quickly she settled on an outfit and began to undress as fast as she could. Getting out of their school uniforms wasn't the easiest thing to do and it often took her a little extra time to do so due to her semblance. 

She had always needed to be careful with her clothing, making sure to never tug too hard on anything she wore for fear of tearing it up by accident. As she pulled her underwear up and began to put her bra on however she heard the doorknob turning and reflexively tensed up, unsure of what to do as the door opened and shut as she found Mydnight entering the room and tossing his bag to his bed before stopping dead in his tracks when he finally found Ambur starring right back at him. 

"Hey-uhhhhh," he began before trailing off. Her hands were behind her back in an effort to clasp her bra, and subsequently, it looked as if she were extenuating her bust. 

Her face became redder as she found Mydnight's gaze upon her, his eyes darting back and forth between her eyes and the rest of her body. "Uhhhhhh," she mimicked, unsure of how to react before she took a step back and finished clasping her bra. 

“Sorrrryy,” he said before shaking his head violently and turning away from her. “You don't normally change in here I didn't expect you to be...exposed,” he said, Ambur able to tell that the sight had had an effect on him. 

“No it's uh...it's my fault I'm sorry,” she replied before quickly pulling her shirt on and began to wrestle with her pants, trying to get them up and over her waist. “I probably shouldn't have taken the chance since you're a...well you're in a relationship and your...problems you talked about controlling yourself...” She said before putting her hands up and shaking her head. “N-not that I think you look at me that way or anything I just mean! That...erm...” she spluttered as her mind went blank. “You know what forget I said anything...”

"No, it's...fine. I did tell you that A big part of the thing about dating Rosa was for...the sex so that's a fair thing to be worried about." As he stood from the bed and went to retrieve his own casual clothing Ambur sat on her bed, looking away from her partner as she sulked, regretting her decisions thus far in the conversation. "Besides don't be so hard on yourself," he smirked to himself as he changed. "Any guy would have a hard time saying he didn't look at you that way." 

"Well...thank you," she blushed as she turned around, finding him buttoning his pants. Her vision became rested upon his abdomen as he turned toward her and grabbed a shirt from his bed before pulling it over his head. "Could say the same about you," she smirked, trying not to be too bold. 

“Hmm?” he hummed, not having fully heard what she had said as he struggled to get his shirt on straight. 

“Nothing,” she sighed. “Nothing just...thanks...sorry if you ever looked at me that way I wouldn't want to...make you uncomfortable or...agitate you or anything like that.”

“Hah,” he laughed before retrieving his belongings from the pockets of his uniform. “Well up until now I've been in too much of a fog to really see how much you've changed so no harm done. Besides I think Rosa would have more to say about it than I would if something were to ever...happen be-” he began before slowly trailing off, realizing what he was saying, finding Ambur starring back at him with her cheeks as red as he had ever seen them. 

The pair was silent for what felt like an eternity before Mydnight finally broke the awkward silence. "I'm...sorry that was a really bad thing to say wasn't it..." 

“...Do you really not like her?” Ambur asked as she looked to the floor. “Like...romantically?”

“...Ya not...really but...for now anyway I...kind of need her...you know? I know it's...REALLY horrible and...I may be using her but...until I can see clearly and can control myself I need someone like her to...deal with me.”

"Well...what if you didn't need her...what if you...had...," she began, not sure what she was saying. "I don't know nevermind," she said before clearing her throat and standing. "Come on let's go..." she said again before heading for the door, Mydnight following silently behind her. 

/

As the pair reached their destination Ambur gave Mydnight a skeptical look, “Signal Academy? That's where we are going?”

“Well ya I uh...asked Qrow about it and I figure that we should probably have someone around just in case one of us gets hurt ya know?”

“Okay but like...aren't other teachers gonna be here or students?”

"Nah, you know no students bunk here, plus its way after anyone would have had to stay after class. We should be fine," he concludes as they head inside the school and meet Qrow in the gymnasium. 

"Thanks for coming Qrow," Mydnight sighed as he and Ambur went out to the center of the wide-open room. Qrow waved to the pair as he watched from the bleachers, watching the pair intently. "You ready?" he asked as he looked into Ambur's eyes, watching her nod. 

"Ya I'm good," she said softly as she placed her hands on either side of Mydnight's face, gently rubbing her thumbs across his cheeks as he closed his eyes and began to lean into her touch. He wasn't really an animal of course but he could not deny that Ambur had a way of relaxing him as if he really were one. As darkness began to pour off of him Ambur could feel his form begin to twist as she usually did, fur growing out of his face as it changed shape. 

As the smoke cleared she would find the horse sized wolf standing on all fours before her, his eyes still closed as he enjoyed her touch. Ambur had grown to love these moments of peace with Mydnight. It was the closest she ever got to feel with him as they stood quietly and she listened to him breathing, watching his fluffy ears slump down as he relaxed. This was how they had started every exercise thus far, trying to make it so that the wolf version of Mydnight had someone familiar to him every time he woke up. Sometimes he had become a little restless at first and the first time he had even growled at her before realizing who she was and what she meant to him. 

This time would be much different, however. It started slow but Ambur could feel Mydnight becoming restless, but not the kind of restless she was used to. Usually, if he began to stir it was because he felt uncomfortable in the situation. This time however he felt what Ambur could only describe as playful. As his golden eyes opened up and she began to scratch underneath his chin she couldn't help but smile as the massive wolf's tongue began to hang out of his mouth as he began to pant slightly. 

However as he began to get more into her touch she could see his front paws tapping on the floor as his butt got low to the ground, as if about to sit. But as he did, his paws came up and, clearly were aimed for her shoulders. Ambur couldn't believe what she was seeing and was so stunned that all she could do was laugh at how happy Mydnight looked for once. 

This, however, was her mistake. As his paws came above her head and started their descent back toward her shoulders, she failed to notice that Mydnight's aim was significantly off with his left front paw. The pair hadn't practiced anything close to this level of affection, as Ambur had never witnessed Mydnight act this way before so she had no reason to suspect that the fog could affect his mind enough to blur his own motions. 

Qrow was out of his seat almost before it happened but as he outstretched his hand and drew in a breath to call Ambur's name it was already too late. 

Mydnight's right most claw on his left paw came down Ambur's face, tearing through her right eyebrow and her eyelid. The act of slowly recoiling backwards is all that would eventually save her from losing the eye entirely, as his claw tore through mere millimeters of her eyeball and continued down, slicing through the first few centimeters of her cheek as she fell backward, Mydnight falling forward with her and catching himself on the floor, standing above her as she screamed and her hands flew up to her eye before the word finally left Qrow's lips.

“Ambur!” 

_End of Chapter_


	13. Volume 1 Chapter 13: I've Got You

The room filled with the echos of her screams of pain as Qrow rushed across the distance between them. The large wolf seemed stunned, not moving at all as it loomed above her body as her form tensed up. As he reached them he put all of his weight into his shoulder, shoving Mydnight to the side, away from his partner as the wolf fought to stay on his feet. As Qrow leaned down to look at Ambur however he couldn't get any sort of look at the wound, only the blood on her body coming from behind her hands as she held them against her eye. 

As Qrow looked to Mydnight he expected to find the wolf agitated with him for shoving him out of the way, but instead, he found the wolf slowly backing away from them. His ears were folded down and he seemed to be unwilling to look directly at Qrow or Ambur, forcing Qrow to assume that the wolf actually felt bad for what he had done. 

“...Mydnight,” he said softly as he held out a hand toward the wolf, only causing him to back away faster. “Change back come on we need to get her to the hospital!” He yelled a bit too loudly. 

The wolf turned around as fast as it could and ran toward the exit. The gym had direct access to the outside world and Mydnight shoved his way through a set of doors and out of the building as Qrow cursed himself for not preparing better for this. “Ambur hey,” he said as he began to help her up, putting her arm around his shoulders. “Keep pressure on it okay we are gonna get you to the emergency room.”

“But!” She finally spoke with pain filling her voice. “What about Mydnight we can't just leave him like that!”

“Look we will find him but right now we need to get you fixed up or you are gonna lose that eye okay? I'll let Oz know and he can have others start looking for him.”

/

As Ambur sat in her hospital bed she couldn't stop fidgeting. It was the only way for her to keep her hands away from her face. She had bandages wrapped around her head to cover up her new wound but the stitches beneath it itched greatly. She had never had stitches before and quite frankly she never expected to. Normally, if she had had her aura active this would have never happened but it had slipped her mind in the moment. Mydnight had caught her so off guard that she had forgotten to activate it. The doctor said that it was possible that she should be able to keep the eye but there was no guarantee that she would be able to see out of it when all was said and done. 

All she could do was sulk as she waited to be released, the time dragging more and more as the night continued on. Qrow had brought her and left almost immediately at Ambur's own request to go look for Mydnight, so she had spent most of the night alone. 

“Ambur!” She heard from the doorway, looking up just in time to see Liv run up to the side of her bed and grab onto her hands. “Oh my gosh what happened,” she asked as she placed her hand on Ambur's opposite cheek. 

"Ohhh Liv...man I'm really...glad you're here," she sighed as a tear fell down her cheek and she pulled Liv into an embrace. 

“Who did this to you?!” Liv asked harshly before breaking the hug, seeing Ambur look back down to her lap. “Where is Mydnight? Weren't you supposed to be with him?”

“...N-nothing...nobody I'm..I'm okay,” she tried to tell her. Deep down she knew this would never satisfy Liv's questions but she had to try to change the subject. 

“What do you mean? Did Mydnight do this to you?!”

“No!” She lied. “Look can we not talk about it...please?” She pleaded desperately.

“Ambur this isn't nothing. I swear to god if he hurt you-”

“It wasn't his fault okay?!” Ambur finally yelled back as she began to cry.

Liv was stunned by her friend's words, lowering her tone and taking hold of Ambur's hand. "What do you mean...it wasn't his fault? I'm not stupid okay..." She said softly as she placed her hand under Ambur's chin and forced her to look into her eyes. "I haven't pressed the issue because you clearly haven't wanted to talk about it but I know that something has been up with him for a while. Tell me what the hell is going on." 

Ambur couldn't stop crying as she searched for the words, wanting so desperately to disappear so she wouldn't have to spill a secret that didn't belong to her. “You...” she sobbed. “You have to promise me,” she finally got out. “Promise me you won't tell anybody. Nobody!” 

“I promise...” she said softly as she wiped a tear from Ambur's cheek. “I'm sorry I yelled but I need to understand what is happening between you two and why he would attack you. I wouldn't be a very good best friend if I didn't...” She smiled softly before pulling Ambur into another hug. 

As Ambur cried into Liv's shoulder she silently cursed herself before taking in one long breath and sobbing the words into Liv's ear as quietly as she could. “Mydnight...he's a...a wolf...”

“I mean...ya I know that?” She said skeptically. “Have to be blind to not see that.”

“No Liv I mean...he can turn into a real wolf,” she said sternly as she broke the embrace and tried to dry her eye.

Liv gave Ambur another confused look before speaking again, “Did you hit your head when he hit you?” She asked as she eyed up Ambur's bandages. 

“Listen to me!” Ambur half yelled. “I'm not joking okay! He's out there right now and he's probably scared to death because he accidentally hurt me while we were training him and I'm stuck here in this stupid bed when I need to be out there looking for him!”

“Alright alright shit sorry. Real wolf...sure,” she said as she scratched her head. “But look I mean...even if that's true you shouldn't be going to look for him you should be staying away from him if he already hurt you once.”

As Liv finished her statement though they heard Ambur's nurse knocking on the door of the room before she walked in. 

“Alright Miss Magnaria here,” she began as she handed her a slip of paper, “Is your prescription and if you have any issues with your stitches coming undone then please do not hesitate to come back.” As the nurse spoke Ambur began to get up out of the bed, Liv finally taking notice of all of the blood on her clothing. The nurses had been able to clean it off of her skin but it was never going to come out of her clothes. “And get plenty of rest!” She called behind her as Ambur bolted for the door, nearly running into the door frame as she walked off balance with her new handicap. 

Liv ran after her friend, finding her leaning against the wall down the hallway trying to stay upright now that her depth perception was completely messed up. “Ambur slow down!” She called after her before grabbing onto her arm and propping her up, helping her friend walk down the hallway. “You need to take it easy this is serious!”

“So is finding Mydnight! I can't leave him out there all alone, he needs me! What if Qrow can't find him?!”

"Well, Qrow is in much better condition to be looking for him than you are!" Liv yelled back as they reached the exit and Liv pulled out her scroll and began to dial a taxi. 

"Liv I know you don't understand what's going on right now but I need you to trust me," She said as she grabbed hold of her friend's hands, keeping her from dialing the number and forcing the girl's eyes to meet. 

“...Make me believe you...tell me why it has to be you!” She shot back, Ambur able to tell that Liv was beginning to fight back tears from frustration. “I don't want to watch you get hurt more than you already are!”

Ambur fell silent for several moments before speaking. “We've...been training his...other form for a few months now...He's only just beginning to get a little control over it...when he changes it's like...he's in a really thick fog and doesn't have control. I'm the one who has been helping this entire time and he only hurt me by accident...he just got a little too playful and caught me with his claw...I need to find him so he knows I'm okay...or he may never forgive himself and just...run away...”

“But Ambur you...You're not okay,” Liv pleaded with her to understand. “You can't even walk in a straight line. How do you expect to go looking for him?”

Ambur fell silent as she accepted that what Liv had said was true. She really was in no shape to go looking for anybody, much less a wolf that could be hiding anywhere around town. "...Please help me," she said softly. "Liv I...I need your help and I'm going with or without you so please..." 

Olivier sighed as she finally nodded her head and put her scroll into her pocket and began supporting her friend's weight again. “You're lucky I love you...” she sighed as the girls began to laugh. “So where are we going..?”

“Let me text Qrow,” she said as she took her scroll out of her pocket and Liv could see her struggling to read the screen before Ambur sighed and handed the device down to Liv. “Could you please I can't...really focus on any of that right now...”

Liv happily took Ambur's scroll from her and began to type the message before both girls waited for a response. “He says he's searched the Signal grounds and surrounding area...fllyyinnggg around?” She said in confusion as she looked back up to Ambur. “What does he mean flying around?”

"Man..." she sighed as she closed her eyes and groaned. "Okay look there's a lot I need to tell you... let's go toward the school maybe he will end up running to places that he is familiar with since he is acting on instinct." 

“...Okay...” Liv sighed again as she began to help her friend down the sidewalk toward Beacon Academy. 

/

"Mydnight!" he yelled out from the rooftop as he jammed his scroll back into his pocket, calling out in the night air in hopes of his nephew hearing. "Dammit...where would he go? He doesn't have anywhere to go!" He yelled as he kicked his foot against the crest of the roof. As he changed back into his Crow form and flapped his wings, accelerating back into the sky he began to think to himself as his eyes scanned the ground. 

'This is all my damn fault. I should have been closer...should have been paying more attention. Been more involved. I know better than anyone how dangerous this shit can be and I stood back and watched as he took on an even more dangerous problem then I had to deal with...as usual.'

As he flew over the city he thought he caught a glimpse of Ambur limping down the street, and he thought he could even see someone else standing with her helping her along. As he got closer he came to realize that is was Liv and began to dive bomb until he landed in a tree along their path, waiting for Ambur to notice him. 

/

As the girls approached the shuttle bay to catch a flight back to the school Ambur was trying her best to explain everything to Liv. “So ya basically for the past few months I have been spending a little time alone with Mydnight to help him gain control of the power that Oz gave him. It's not the alone time I'm looking for but hey...I'll take it.”

“Even if it gets you killed? Ambur this is insane. Do you not see how not okay this all is?”

“Mydnight made his choice...it wasn't forced on him or anything like that.”

"No, but you didn't get to choose! The choice to help him was made for you." 

"No, it wasn't? I told you tha-" 

"Ya, I heard what you said. But do you think that even for a second that Oz didn't know you were going to say yes? He manipulated you because he knew you'd do anything for Mydnight..." 

"...It's not...like that okay..." She protested quietly, though she knew that Olivier had a point. It was true that there was never any chance that Ambur would have said no. If Ozpin knew that she had feelings for Mydnight then it was possible that he had manipulated her into her new dog-sitting position. "Even if it was I don't regret it." 

“You like Mydnight THAT much? That this,” she pointed to Ambur's eye, “Really doesn't bother you?”

"...No, it doesn't...not at all. I signed up for this and I knew the consequences. I'm his partner and I swore to be there for him and I am going to be...no matter what." 

Liv fell silent as Ambur's words washed through her mind. It never ceased to amaze Liv how good of a Leader Ambur had turned out to be. Never exploding on Rosa no matter how much she deserved it, doing what was best for the team even when at times all three of her teammates wanted nothing to do with each other. 'Now this?' She thought to herself as she looked up to Ambur's pain stained face, seeing her squint and grit her teeth with every step as she fought to keep her balance. 

Though before either of them could think of anything else to say the pair heard a loud cawing from the tree ahead of them, growing out from its plot in the sidewalk. The girls looked up to find a red-eyed crow starring back at them, Liv speaking first as she looked between the crow and Ambur. "...Is that..?" She asked without giving specifics, looking around them to find that there were no other people or traffic on their street. 

"She knows Qrow," Ambur called out before the bird swooped down the tree and in a cloud of smoke changed it's form into Qrow's before their eyes as he landed on the sidewalk. 

"You gonna tell Oz you told her?" He asked as he raised an eyebrow. 

“I think we have more pressing issues right now Qrow,” Ambur huffed as Liv let her go and Ambur slumped over, hands rested on her knees as she tried to stabilize herself. 

“I can't find him anywhere,” he said as he walked over. “Why are you out here you should be resting. 

“I Need to help...I can't sit around and do nothing while he is out there scared and alone...”

“Look wherever he is I'm sure he is fine it's just a matter of finding him. Which I can do far easier than you can. Look at you...you can barely stand Ambur.”

"Ya I tried to tell her that but she's not listening. You're not gonna change her mind," Liv grumbled as she stretched her arm out that Ambur had been rested on. 

“I'm not giving up so you can drop the subject Qrow,” Ambur breathed out as she stood up tall, swaying a little bit as she caught her balance, Liv rushing back to her side to catch her and help her stay up. 

"...Fine. You check the school grounds and if he isn't there then go to your dorm and stay there, I can check the rest of the city and the surrounding area in that time. Don't push yourself," he pointed to her, putting on his best serious face before he jumped up into the air and changed back into his crow form and flew off, leaving the girls in the dust. 

“He really doesn't think I can help at all...he doesn't expect us to find him at Beacon he just wants me out of the way...”

“Ambur he just wants you to be safe,” Liv retorted as she began to help Ambur walk down the road again. “What happens if you find Mydnight and he attacks you again?”

“Well...” she sighed, “then you're gonna have to help me take him down aren't you...”

“Ambur I don't have my weapon! What exactly do you want me to do?”

“Maybe it's time we test our theory about your semblance then...hmm?” Ambur suggested as Liv gave her a surprised look. 

"Jesus Ambur, you have a really cruel idea of trial by fire you know that?" 

"Look I can overpower him if it doesn't work you just...gotta point me in the right direction. It'll be fine...I promise. Besides if he sees me I doubt he will want to fight. More than likely he will want to run away again because of how guilty he feels. You just have to tell him not to," she assured Liv. 

"...Okay, we will try it...but if he comes after us you need to promise me that you won't freeze up. You need to take him down if he charges us." 

“I will...I promise.”

/

As Liv and Ambur disembarked from the shuttle the girls decided that the best route to go would be to text Bronzine and see if he had seen Mydnight return to their room. Upon receiving his text back the girls discovered that Bronzine had seen no such thing, and they headed toward the cliff that led down into the Emerald Forest. The pair found the safest way down so Ambur wouldn't have to struggle with landing, and in the dark of the night, they headed deeper and deeper into the woods. 

They were surprised to find that they weren't really in for an assault from the Grimm, eventually realizing that all of the monsters in the area were probably being pulled in by Mydnight's negativity if he really was there with them. This would prove advantages for them in more ways than one. Of course, it meant that Ambur did not have to fight, but it also meant that when the two girls did eventually begin to hear the growls of Grimm in the distance that the noise would likely lead them straight to their missing wolf. 

As they came closer to the snarls of the wild beasts they began to lay lower to the ground, even eventually dropping to their knees and crawling toward a clearing where they could hear all manner of terrible noise. Ripping and tearing, snapping and cracking and worst of all the low growls of the giant wolf they sought. Ambur held back a long hanging limb of a bush so as to peak into the opening in the trees to find the large black wolf in the center of a large pack of Grimm, Beowolves, and Ursa mostly. 

He seemed to be breathing quite heavily and the monsters were clearly agitating him but Ambur felt a hand on her wrist, looking over to see Liv looking to her for answers. 

“I don't know,” she whispered before looking back. “I can't really fight like this and even if I could I don't know if it's a good idea to get in between him and the Grimm. He may not be able to control himself very well yet so we could just get in the way and get more hurt.”

“So what we are just supposed to sit here and watch him? What if they just keep coming?”

“If he needs us then we can jump in, it's not like either of us are useless without a weapon right? You fight with your hands anyway and I can at least defend myself if I stay still...I think,” she said softly as she wasn't entirely sure that her own words were the truth. She had killed monsters with her bare hands before but she had been able to see their attacks coming from either side of her face, not to mention she could judge when the opponent's strikes would land and now she wasn't sure that she could. 

As the girls watched however Olivier had the good sense to reach into Ambur's pocket and take out her scroll, rifling off a text to Qrow so he could fly to their location and help if he needed to. Ambur knew deep down that this was probably a good idea but she still saw it as a risk. Ambur had gotten it into her head that she was the only one who could calm Mydnight down and get him to change back but somewhere in the back of her head she knew better. Qrow had known Mydnight far longer than she had and was really the only semblance of family that Mydnight ever had. 

If it came down to it she may even have to admit that Qrow had a better chance of calming his nephew down but for some reason, Ambur couldn't shake the feeling that it was her responsibility. As the fight ensued the girls tried to keep their gasps as quiet as they could, watching Mydnight lash out at each of the Grimm who came at him, tearing them to bits before they could have any semblance of a quick death. Most of the monsters were in more than two pieces before they began to fade away but of course, the others learned nothing by watching the rest of their pack fail. 

Young Grimm were too stubborn to see when they were beaten or to walk away from a fight that they couldn't win, and Mydnight was making it very clear to all who watched that this fight could only end one way. He looked tired but nothing was going to stop Mydnight from taking out his anger for himself until there were no targets left in his gaze. 

And so eventually, after a few minutes, there were none. Mydnight stood alone in the clearing breathing extremely deeply as his chest pumped. The girl's attention would be stolen however as the sound of a crows caw forced them to look up to the night sky, seeing the silhouette of the bird on the cracked moon before Qrow swooped down and changed forms, landing several meters in front of Mydnight. 

As he landed however and pt his hands up in front of him to try and calm the wolf, Mydnight began to step backward rapidly to avoid contact with him as he began to snarl as his older counterpart. “Mydnight,” Qrow said as softly as he could as he looked into the golden orbs of his nephew, trying to remain calm to show the wolf he meant no harm. “Come on we need to get you home bud you gotta change back,” he again let out softly as the wolf refused to back down.

Ambur couldn't sit by and watch anymore, slowly standing from her position under the brush before taking slow steps out into the clearing. “Ambur stop!” Liv whispered loudly. “Let Qrow handle it!”

Ambur kept walking however, her vision moving between her feet and Mydnight, trying to make sure that she wouldn't trip over anything. She moved slow, with her hands out in front of her to try and show that she had nothing to hide, Mydnight looking over Qrow's shoulder to find that she was coming toward them. 

At first, Mydnight continued to snarl as Qrow looked over his shoulder to find Ambur coming toward them. "Ambur get out of here I' not gonna let you get hurt again over this!" Qrow yelled before Ambur walked passed him, grabbing her wrist as she did. "You're gonna get yourself killed!" 

Ambur could only look back into Qrow's eyes and shake her head at him. “Let me go...I can do this...”

Qrow knew that he couldn't hold her back if he wanted to and reluctantly let her go as their attention turned back to Mydnight, who had finished growling at her and was beginning to look more and more guilty. He refused to look her in the face and he was stepping backward again toward the tree line. 

“Mydnight,” she began softly, grabbing his attention as he began to whine and couldn't sit still. “Mydnight please, stay. Don't run away. I'm not mad at you but I need you to listen to me...” She continued as she slowly made her way closer to him. 

Again Mydnight's eyes dove own to the ground in front of him as he lifted a paw to his face and began to run it over his left eye, continuing to whine in shame. 

"Myd it's okay..." she said again as she continued toward him slowly. Liv stood from the ground and walked toward Qrow, standing beside him as she bit her lip in anticipation, trying to hold herself back from interrupting Ambur's attempt. As Ambur shuffled her way toward the great wolf she continued to plead until eventually Mydnight reluctantly looked up into her face. "That's it," she said as she slowly held out one hand toward her partner, Mydnight hesitant to accept the gesture. 

“Change back Mydnight...” Qrow barely heard from beside him, looking down to find Olivier beside him with her hands together over her chest. She had whispered it so quietly that even standing right beside him he had barely heard it. But as he looked back to Mydnight he saw his ears twitch, as if he had picked up the voice and his mood immediately seemed to change. 

Without further hesitation, his whines stopped and Mydnight pressed his nose into Ambur's open palm as shadows began to radiate off of the wolf. As they cleared into the night sky the group found Mydnight standing before Ambur, looking around confused as if he didn't know where he was. 

“Wha...where am-Oh my god!” He said as his attention fell back upon Ambur, his hands flying up to her cheeks, “Ambur what happened?!” He asked frantically. “Are you okay?!”

“Do...do you not...remember anything?” She asked as she raised her left eyebrow and squinted in confusion. 

“What? What do you mean?” As Ambur began to realize that Mydnight had no memory of his day her hands slowly came up to take hold of his, keeping them pressed against her cheeks. Some of this way to comfort him from the words about to leave her mouth but mostly it was to keep him from recoiling away from her if he took it poorly. She then pulled him into her, forcing her partner into a hug, burying her face in his shoulder as he stood there, stunned. 

“I'm so glad you're okay,” she said softly as her eyes began to water. “I was so worried about you.”

Mydnight again stood still in confusion, not sure what she meant before everything began to click in his head. “Wait did I...did I turn into the...Ambur,” he said softly as she felt him take a deep breath and swallow hard. “Ambur what happened?”

“Mydnight you...did this to me...”

_End of Chapter_


	14. Volume 1 Chapter 14: Smell The Roses

"Where did you get these?!" Ambur asked in excitement as she lightly jumped up and down in place, staring down to the tickets in her hands. 

"Well, I had some money left over from the stuff my parents gave me to get me through the year and I figured I'd treat us to a nice day...we could certainly use it if you ask me," Liv answered. "So do you wanna go?" 

"Yeah of course I do! But you didn't have to do that," Ambur said softly as she pulled Liv into a tight hug, her friend struggling to breathe. 

“I know, I wanted to. I know she's your favorite and I saw that she's in town for the next few nights so why not huh?” She smiled as Ambur set her back down on the ground. “I got some extras too. Make it a friend's night? We might not get another chance to see each other outside of class like this until next year right?”

Ambur's smile quickly ran away from her face however as she began to calm down before nodding her head. "Ya, I know you're right...You're going home for the summer right?" 

“Ya I am,” Liv sighed, “I'd rather stay here but I'm sure my parents would be happier if I came home to see them for a few months you know?”

“Ya I know...I'm just gonna miss you is all...But hey, who should we invite?”

"Well I told Gretch already and she said she'd like to go. Would any of your teammates wanna go?" 

"Well, Mydnight-" she begins before suddenly stopping. "She's Mydnight's favorite singer too so I could...talk to him about it if...he'll actually talk to me..." She said slowly and quietly. 

"Well..." Liv answered with a sigh, knowing the two haven't spoken much over the past several weeks. After Mydnight had learned that he was the one who had hurt Ambur he had become very reclusive. Ambur hadn't even seen him hanging out with Rosa very much, never mind anyone else. It was clear that he blamed himself but Ambur hadn't been able to get his spirits back up. He had even sworn off the use of the wolf and refused to even practice with her, slowly slipping back down into the fog. "Maybe this will be your chance to get him talking huh? Show him a good time at the concert and maybe he will open back up right?" 

“Maybe...” she sighed. As she stood from the bed with her's and an extra ticket in her hand Liv watched her head to the door, trying to give her friend a confident smile. 

“Don't worry Am,” she soothed as best she could, “He'll come around.”

Ambur looked back as her hand took hold of the doorknob and tried to give her a small smile in return before leaving, but it was obvious that the smile had been forced. Ambur had been down lately and Liv, of course, could tell the difference. It had really been hard on her the past few weeks, having to deal with what happened alone since Mydnight seemingly wouldn't talk about it. 

As Ambur left the room and crossed the hall she pulled her scroll out of her pocket, leaning up against the wall, struggling to read the screen often did now. She did her best to send a text to Mydnight, trying to find out if he was in their room or not. As she waited for a reply she couldn't help but fidget with her phone, trying as hard as she could to keep her hands away from her face. Thankfully she hadn't needed to wear the bandages for more than a few days but the stitches were a nightmare. She had already scratched them loose once and had to have them redone and ever since she hadn't even dared to touch her face. 

Olivier had been helping her with her make up every morning that she desired some, which of course she was thankful for, but it had made Ambur begin to feel even more useless in her situation with Mydnight. It had really begun to get to her that she couldn't even take care of herself, how was she supposed to take care of her partner as well?

Rather than getting an eye patch, Liv and Ambur had decided to try and style her hair to flow down over the right side of her face. Not too much like her old hairstyle, this one was much more taken care of and rather than looking as if she was hiding behind her hair it actually was quite becoming of her. The doctors had told her that her wound was actually healing up quite nicely all things considered, of course, anyone with an aura was able to heal much faster and better than any normal person but this was no paper cut. 

Her phone buzzed in her hand as she pulled up the message, surprised to find that he had actually responded to her. He had taken to ignoring her messages lately but on this day it seemed maybe he was in a better mood. 

'Can I please talk to you? I have a surprise. Where are you?' she answered back.

'I'm in the courtyard. Getting some air so...if you wanna come down I'll be here.'

Ambur was moving almost before she had finished reading the text, trying to maintain her balance down the many staircases to the first floor and out the front doors of the dorm building. Ambur could seem him already and was as shocked as ever that he was still wearing that full-body jacket of his. Even in summer Vale didn't see any extreme heat but it certainly wasn't cold enough to be wearing that heavy thing every day. It never seemed to affect him though and honestly, a part of Ambur was jealous. 

Back when she had been trying to blend into crowds she had wished she could wear her heavy sweaters in the summertime but she had always gotten far too hot and been forced to show skin. Of course, now this was no longer an issue, she was after all wearing a tank top and a pair of high wasted gold jean shorts and she couldn't be happier to be doing so. 

She had missed so much of this at Signal Academy, feeling the air on her skin, getting tan and being able to enjoy the sun. When she finally reached him he looked toward her, without letting their eyes meet and let her speak first. “Mind if I uhm...sit?” She asked timidly. 

“Go ahead...so what's up...”

“Well I uh...well there's a lot...are you finally ready to talk to me or should I just forget it?..” She asked solemnly.

He was silent for a few moments as he looked off toward the Horizon at Vale's skyline. Ambur could tell that as usual, he was avoiding eye contact with her. "Ya I...guess...I'm not gonna see you again until next year so I...guess I shouldn't keep ignoring the problem...huh?”

“Wait...” Ambur said softly. “Why won't you see me over the summer we live right across town from each other..?”

“Qrow uh...wants to take me on some jobs around the world that he's got lined up so he can try and train me a little more...I already agreed.”

Ambur fell silent as she folded her hands in her lap and looked down to the stone walkway beneath their feet. “Oh...do you mean you or...the wolf?”

"Both," he shrugged. "I don't wanna put anyone in danger anymore and...well Qrow has always been a pretty rough, hands-on teacher so there's no real chance of me hurting him ya know?" 

“Mydnight I...I already told you I-”

"I know," he cut in, "I know you keep saying it's fine and...maybe you really believe that it is fine but...I don't." He sighed, "You're...really...important to me Ambur," he let out as she looked up to his face again, shocked by his words. He, of course, didn't look at her in return but instead kept talking. "I already hate myself for hurting you and I don't think I could live with myself if it ever happened again so...please...just let me do this." 

Ambur took a long breath before reaching over and grabbing his hand with her own, grabbing his attention, seeing him looking down to their entwined fingers. “Look at me...please just look at me,” Ambur said as she felt tears welling in her eyes. “I will let you go if you say that again and look me in the eye. Every time I've seen you-you refuse to look at me and it makes me feel like trash so just...make me believe you..." 

Mydnight's ears slumped as she saw him sigh heavily before biting his bottom lip. Finally, after several weeks Mydnight finally looked up into Ambur's face. “I'm sorry...” he said softly as he reached with his free hand and wiped the tears from her left eye, Ambur reaching up and holding his hand against her face, savoring the touch of her partner. “I know you think I'm not looking at you because of your eye but...that's...not the reason Ambur. Well...not entirely,” he said as their eyes continued to stare back into one another. 

“Then what is it?” She wept. “What do I need to change?”

Mydnight's lips parted before he shook his head. “Nothing Ambur...you've already...changed far more than enough,” he smiled. “Like I said...you're very important to me and I...” he trailed off as he thought better of his words. “...Anyway, just please keep being yourself...be who you want to be...not who you think I want you to be. Those two people are exactly the same,” he smiled again before looking back out to the horizon. 

Ambur was stunned, she couldn't believe everything that had seemingly spilled out of her partner's lips. As his face ran hot and cheeks became red she finally remembered the tickets in her pocket. As she pulled them out and let go of his hand she spoke, "Uhm...I uh..." 

This was enough to get Mydnight to look back, seeing her holding the tickets out in front of her. “What're those for?”

“Liv uhm...got some tickets to go see Casey Williams tonight and we had an extra so uhmmm...do you wanna come with me? US?” she panicked after implying he would only be going with her. 

“Like...a date?” he asked with a smirk.

“No I mean...well...aren't you and Rosa still dating? It's been kinda hard to tell lately to be honest...”

"That's...fair," he sighed. It was true that Mydnight and Rosa were sending the group mixed messages lately. After yelling at her during their mission in Glade, Rosa had seemed determined to not let their relationship die but she hadn't realized what an uphill battle that would be. Mydnight hadn't been putting in much effort anymore and neither had Rosa. The pair would still find themselves tangled in bed from time to time but it was nothing concrete. They had stopped going on dates and it truly seemed like any semblance of a honeymoon phase had ended. 

Though over the past few weeks Ambur had still had plenty to be jealous about since Rosa was still getting more attention from the wolf than herself. It seemed like no matter what happened Ambur wasn't going to get her chance to pounce this year, if at all. It was plain for all to see that a break up was inevitable between the two but for reasons that only Ambur understood Mydnight still felt as though he needed her. 

Even if he had been changing into the wolf behind her back with Qrow it still seemed like Mydnight was in a bit of a fog. Not nearly as bad as before but there was doubt it was there. He could concentrate when he really wanted to but if he let his mind wander even a little bit then he was off in the clouds in mere moments. Of course, Ambur too knew that his senses were still dialed too eleven and that he was still very much in need of sexual attention. 

Ambur almost regretted not having finished her statement those weeks ago, nearly about to volunteer to help him with it just so that Rosa would be completely out of her way. She had thought better of it though, hoping that if she won his heart first then the relationship would end up being healthier than his with Rosa. 

"No, I just...can I just..." She began slowly trying to get her thoughts straight in her mind. "You and I, we...we really hit it off that first day of school...at least I thought we did and...well I really thought that being your partner was like...the best thing ever," she sighed with a chuckle, amused by her own childish words. "You and I seem to get along really well...ya know? Then Rosa kinda...pounced on you or maybe you thought that you really liked her or...whatever," she shook her head trying to get along with her explanation. "But I've been here the entire time just waiting to get my friend back...And when I finally did get you back I lost you again the next day. I just want...to be closer to you and I don't care if you think you're too dangerous for that," she finally let out as she looked back into his eyes and held out the extra ticket to him. 

Mydnight couldn't help but sigh and shrug his shoulders, "Ya I know I've been a real shit friend...and teammate, and every time I try to fix the things I screw up I just make things worse and I'm sorry for that but...I'm still learning how to actually handle having more than one friend ya know? But," he says softly as he looks back to her and meets her gaze, "I'll keep trying," he smiles as he accepts the ticket from her. 

“Thank you, please just...don't ever shut me out again okay? You know I...You're really important to me too...maybe more than you realize... she mutters as she blushes and looks away from him. 

“Ya well...maybe.”

/

As the sun slumped lower and lower behind the trees the four friends arrived at the concert hall in Vale and Ambur felt as if a massive weight had finally been lifted off her shoulders. She finally had Mydnight back to normal-ish and now she was going to her first live concert for her favorite artist with her closest friends. As they finally made it through the screening line they walked inside the hall finding it decorated in mostly deep blues and white, the main lights off with matching neon lights flashing all over the enormous performing center. 

The girls had all changed outfits into something a little more party appropriate, though as expected Mydnight hadn't dressed up. Ambur was grateful that he had at least left his coat at home and was only in his tight v-necked t-shirt and his fitted black jeans though. Liv had turned up to their room in a short white dress, though contrary to her normal look it wasn't form fitting. The skirt frilled out a little and the entire garment seemed a bit looser than what Liv normally would wear with white thin straps holding it up. 

Her arms were full of jewelry as well. Normally Liv would wear a few bracelets here and there depending on what day it was but this time it seemed as though she had thrown every single one she owned on at the same time, both wrists totally loaded up. Her hooped earrings too were replaced with amethyst studs to match her eyes. 

Ambur had opted out of a dress, still not loving the way they fit her body, believing firmly that she was too tall to wear dresses. Liv had however helped her pick out an outfit for just this occasion and was far more lenient than normal now that Ambur had fully gone through her changes. She more or less matched Mydnight in fact, with a black crop top with two-thirds sleeves and a pair of short elastic shorts which clung to her hips for dear life. 

If Mydnight was being honest with himself this had been an immense distraction as the group had been walking over from the shuttle to the performing center. With all the feelings being tossed around between himself and Ambur lately and his ever-growing abstinence from sleeping with Rosa it had been nearly impossible for the wolf to keep his eyes off of Ambur's back side. He had even begun to trail behind the girls as they walked becoming more and more entranced by the sight of Ambur's wide hips and toned butt swinging back and forth in front of him. 

He feared he had been caught too, barely noticing as Gretchen and Olivier had looked back at him to make sure he was still with them, only to find his eyes fixated on the object of his subconscious desire. To be sure, somewhere deep down he did feel quite bad about it, and he was trying so desperately not to look at Ambur in that way, but more and more lately it had become difficult to keep it up. Ambur too had noticed his stares and had done almost nothing to prevent his actions, simply blushing and continuing down the sidewalks with Liv's words again lingering in her ear. 'Strut...strrrut,' she thought to herself as she tried her very best to swing her hips in front of her crush. 'I don't care if it's the wolf...I want his eyes on me tonight, nobody else,' she thought. 

The group found that there was a large open dance floor in the center of the massive indoor venue in front of the stage. “Oh thank god there's room to dance,” Liv sighed with a smile before she looked around the room for the bar. 

“I've never really...danced before honestly,” Ambur confessed as Mydnight smirked.

“Same.”

“Well I'm going to and I swear I'm at least going to get you,” she pointed to Ambur, “To join me. Now,” she said before motioning for the group to lean in and listen to her closely so she could whisper to them. “I'm going to offer this now and it's entirely up to you guys. But if at any point tonight you want a drink just ask me and I'll order it for you.”

"Uh...how exactly are you gonna do that? We are all underage," Mydnight asked as he raised an eyebrow. 

“Just this ONE TIME,” Liv stressed, “I'll abuse my semblance for this special occasion,” she huffed as she waited for their answers. “None of us can get crazy though because we need to make it back to the school when this is over and not draw attention to ourselves.”

“I mean...thanks but I...don't even know what I like,” Gretchen laughed out before Ambur agreed with her. 

“Any dark spiced rum is good for me,” Mydnight shrugged his shoulders as the girls looked to him with confusion on their faces. “What? Qrow has let me drink before in private I know what I like.”

“Oookay then well,” Liv answered as she made a mental note of the order, “Anybody else got any ideas of what they wanna try? We can go look at the menu if you want, just let me do the talking.”

“Alright...ya let's do that,” Ambur said, trying to sound confident as the girls walked over to the bar, Mydnight staying behind to look for a place for all of them to sit. 

After several minutes the trio found him and as Liv handed him his drink he began to try his best and smell what was in the other's cups. He could tell that Ambur had gone for a sort of mid ranged beer, not too dark but not too light either and by the way she kept smiling after sipping it she seemed to enjoy it so far. Gretchen had opted out of drinking and to no surprise, Liv seemed to have her cup filled with red wine. "That your brand?" He asked as he gestured to her cup. 

“Antoinette Red, yep,” she confirmed before sipping it. “Tastes like home. Don't love it but when you spend so long away from what you're used to you end up missing it ya know?”

“How often did you drink it back home?”

"Oh, every dinner we have it. It's out on the table at all times. I don't know that I could actually drink enough of it to get drunk at this point I'm so used to drinking it. Probably first got offered it when I was like ten. Didn't care for it much back then but I've grown to appreciate it." 

“Is whine all you drink then?” Ambur asked. 

“I mean, for now. I've tried other things at parties and stuff but nothing has really stuck with me.”

As she finished her statement the trio heard the crowd begin to applaud, hoot and holler as Williams walked out onto the stage, each of them joining in with the rest of the crowd around them welcoming their entertainment for the night. Mydnight could even hear Ambur squealing over the rest of the crowd since he knew her voice so well. He couldn't believe how excited she was and he couldn't help but smile as he watched her hang on every word that would come out of William's mouth as she spoke to the crowd. They watched as the rest of the band members filled in and took their places behind her before the lights on stage began to dim and the laser light show started back up, again featuring mostly blue and white lights. 

As she began to play Ambur saw Liv begin to chug her drink before placing the empty cup on their table. She quickly stood from her chair and grabbed onto Ambur's hand, pulling at her to get her to stand as hard as she could. “Come on!” She shouted over the music. Ambur hesitated as her mind began to race, trying to convince herself to just let go and let Liv drag her out tot he dance floor as the music kicked up to a much more bass heavy, fast passed song. 

Ambur quickly looked across the table to find Mydnight looking back at her, seemingly spacing out and studying her face in silence. She took in a deep breath and exhaled before downing a huge gulp of her beer, her face scrunching up from the alcohol before she shook her head quickly and began to stand, “Alright I'll do it,” she blurted out as she let Liv lead her out on to the dance floor, feeling Mydnight’s gaze on her the whole way. 

Mydnight quickly looked to find Gretchen, though discovered that she too had disappeared into the crowd behind his other companions. Again his attention turned back to Ambur, easily spotting her among the sea of other fans, clearly standing out to him not just from her height, but from her scent as well. He could see her plain as day thankfully as the girls had only just gone into the dance floor and were near the edge of the entire pack of people. 

Time seemed to slow as the music went on and his vision rested with his partner. At first, it seemed as though she really didn't know what to do but after a few minutes of Liv getting her moving the Amazon seemed to be quite in sync with the rhythm. Mydnight would fall into an incredible trance as song after song went by and the things just seemed to happen around him. Ambur and Olivier would come and go from the table, getting a few more drinks and getting increasingly tipsy as the night went on. He would interact with them in small ways as the came and went but nothing substantial. 

Eventually, in the dark of the room, Mydnight would find himself completely entranced with Ambur. Her scent had changed over the course of the night and her appearance along with it. She and Liv had been dancing so much in the hot crowd and their skin began to glisten with sweat, the scent reaching Mydnight's nose. To his surprise, however, it wasn't offensive at all. It seemed as though Ambur's body could do no harm to him in any sense and it only seemed to drag him down further into Ambur's unwitting control. 

“He's watching,” Liv breathed into Ambur's ear, too quietly for Mydnight to have possibly noticed over all the noise. 

“Good,” Ambur whispered back, both girls constantly on the edge of being out of breath “I want his eyes on us all night,” she said softly as she bit her lower lip and put her hands on Liv's waist. 

"Gosh," Liv let out with a smirk before whispering again. "I've created a monster," she le tout as she looked up to watch the lights flashing in Ambur's reflective red-eye as Ambur did the same in Liv's deep plum orbs. 

“Is that a problem,” Ambur smirked back as she spun her shorter counterpart around. She held her hips and lowered herself a little to match her hips with Olivier's as they began to grind on each other. Liv too began to bite on her lip as she looked back over her shoulder into Ambur's face. She couldn't believe how bold Ambur was acting, especially in front of Mydnight but even if she was just acting this way to make the wolf jealous Liv didn't care. She had longed for the touch of another person in the way for far too long and if Ambur wanted this then Liv wasn't about to object, grinding her rear into Ambur's pelvis, feeling her breasts pressed up against her back. 

“Not tonight it's not.”

_End of Chapter_


	15. Volume 1 Chapter 15: Amber Signals

Her fingers ran through Ambur's hair slowly, tracing along the amazon's jawline as her eyes drifted shut. As they shifted back and forth against each other Liv felt like she was in a dream. She hadn't had anything to drink since starting the year at Beacon and clearly, her tolerance for the drink she had grown up with wasn't as great as she remembered. The more the two danced on each other the more she began to slip down into the haze of the dance floor. 

She felt Ambur's hands all over her too, beginning to think that perhaps Ambur had forgotten her own plan as well. Neither of the girls had ever gotten so intimate with another woman before and both of them were very clearly drawing attention from the crowd around them. Each was surprised to find that they weren't forcing any of their actions or even thinking them through. Each only acted on instinct and let the music begin to rule them, doing as it bade them as the minutes slipped past them. 

At first, the girls hadn't been so on each other but as their minds fell into the fog and music their actions had become quite sensual. Every time Ambur's hands drifted up and down Liv's spine, she shuddered, each of them taking turns to control the flow of their actions. Each was gasping for air, as they had been dancing for nearly an hour straight with no breaks and they were very taken by the heat of the dance floor, each girl's skin hot to the touch. 

“HhhAmbur,” Liv would gasp out from time to time, trying her best to finish statements that never fully made it out of her mind. Liv's mind would soon begin to wander to her past experiences dancing with boys she had dated, even to sleeping with them and how they all couldn't compare to what she felt now on the dance floor with Ambur. It was actually starting to worry her if she was honest with herself. 

Every action Ambur took Liv became more and more confused. How did she even get into this situation in the first place? She had no idea that this was how the night was going to go when she bought the tickets. Her own actions were a puzzle to her as well, unsure why her hands moved to the places they did, or why every time her and Ambur's skin touched her entire body felt as if it were on fire and her mind would go blank. 

She couldn't even make out the faces of the people dancing near them, trapped between the crowd and the Amazon. Most of the time she didn't mind too much being short but sometimes it could end up being a real pain. This momentary hatred for her stature didn't last long however as she sank back into Ambur's possession and began to wonder what was racing through Ambur's mind. It couldn't be too different from her own thoughts, could it? It was true that Olivier had imagined on more than one occasion what it would be like if she was the object of Ambur's obsession, rather than Mydnight. 

Wait. That name. “Mydnight,” she breathed out, unable to hear herself among the music. She turned back to face Ambur as quickly as she could, only to find herself face to face with her counterpart, as if Ambur had been leaning down to look over Liv's shoulder while she was facing the other way. Liv was stunned to find her this way, and immediately forgot what she was going to say, her lips remaining parted as she starred back into Ambur's soft red eyes, losing herself in them. 

Ambur's lips too were parted as if she had been about to say something to her and her gaze was glossed over, her eyes darting between Liv's eyes and her body. “Ambur...” she breathed out again, this time just barely loud enough for the sound to hit Ambur's ears. “whhh...what were you...?” she asked again as the two girl's faces inched closer and closer together, Ambur's hands moving up Liv's body until her elbows came to rest on Liv's shoulders. 

Instinctively, and without her own mind's permission Liv's hands moved up to Ambur's face, cupping her cheeks delicately as each girl's lips began to burn, their eyes slowly drifting shut as they grew ever closer together. Liv could feel Ambur's breath on her mouth and it sent shivers down her spine each time she exhaled. Liv was about to completely slip back down into the fog when she felt her bottom lips scrape against Ambur's, her eyes shooting open as she bit her own lip, trying to control herself as she saw Ambur looking back at her. "Mydnight," Liv breathed out before her eyes slowly moved over to where they had left him at the table, finding him coming back to their table with a drink in his hand. Liv was relieved that he had appeared to have missed the show they had put on over the last minute. 

Ambur's eyes followed her as they opened wide, slowly beginning to realize how far they had fallen into the fog the night had created for them. "Oh?... Oh my-" Ambur began before cutting herself off, standing straight up and clearing her throat, letting go of Olivier as her small framed counterpart took a step back from her and looked toward the floor in embarrassment as each girl's face lit up bright red. 

“Why don't I...go get a drink or something,” Liv said, trying to clear the air as she timidly looked back up to Ambur, the taller girl unable to look her friend back in the eyes. “I'll uh...I'll tell Mydnight to come join you? Okay?” She said, desperately trying to get herself out of the awkward situation that she had helped to create. 

“Okay...thanks,” Ambur sighed in relief, glad that she wouldn't need to discuss what had just happened. As Liv pushed her way through the crowd and back toward their table she folded her arms over her stomach and began to rub her hands up and down the outside of her arms as her face grew more and more red. As she approached the table she found Mydnight giving her a concerned look. 

“Everything okay?” he asked nonchalantly, clearly not having seen the girls nearly make out with each other in a drunken stupor in public. 

"Uhh yeah, I just uhm...I need a drink and Ambur...wants to know if you would go dance with her? You've been watching us all night and she would really...like to dance with you." 

“I mean...I don't know how to dance,” he shrugged. 

“Don't worry about that just...” she said as she grew impatient, wanting to get away from him. “She's probably going to do all the dancing you just have to stand there and enjoy it,” she said quickly. “have you seen Gretchen?”

“I just left her at the bar ya,” he said as he pointed behind him with his thumb and Olivier walked away toward her partner. Mydnight looked back to the dance floor to find Ambur looking at him seductively, her eyes only half open, leaned over toward him to accentuate her bust. Her hand too was out with her pointer finger motioning for him to come to her. Mydnight could feel his frustration building back up. He had gone over to the bar to get his eyes off of the sensual display the girls had put on in front of him for the past hour so he could walk around and try to settle down but now Ambur was poised to make it even more enticing than before. 

He couldn't resist the opportunity, however, finding himself standing from his chair, chugging his new double shot of rum and heading out onto the dance floor to meet her. As he reached her he watched as she took hold of his arms and leaned over to whisper up into his ear. He felt her hot breath on the inside of his Faunus appendage and jumped from the sensation. He had had far less to drink than either Liv or Ambur but he could still feel it. 

She took a very long breath before finally speaking and he could feel the warmth from her hands on his wrists. “If I make you uncomfortable just...say so okay?” she finally whispered to him playfully. As she pulled away she saw him nod, biting her lip as she nodded her head as well and turned away from him. As she backed down on him he truly began to notice just how tall she really was. The pair were in fact nearly the exact same height, their hips slowly coming together perfectly without either party having to lower themselves. 

Ambur's hands rose up behind her head, finding the back of Mydnight's head and pulling his face over her right shoulder and into the crook of her neck. She ran her hands through his hair several times before grabbing onto it lightly as she rocked her butt against his pelvis, immediately feeling him exhale heavily on her neck as he gasped in surprise. He had never been touched in this way before, even Rosa hadn't tempted him so aggressively. After several moments of Mydnight not seeming to know what to do with himself Ambur used her free hand to reach down and back, taking hold of his hand and placing it on her hip. 

She turned her head to face him as she saw his eyes, burning with lust, staring back at her, "I assume you'll let me know if you can't handle it huh?" she smirked as she pressed her butt back into him harder and felt him grip her waist tightly as she began to raise and lower her pelvis, grinding against his jeans slowly as she watched him bury his face into her neck as he grit his teeth. She couldn't help but laugh at his expense, never having imagined that this act would be shared between them. She had, of course, wanted to be with him but she had never thought that she could be this bold, especially in public. 

She could feel his breath again on her neck and it sent a shiver down her spine every time he exhaled. A blush spread across her face as she again bit down on her lower lip and looked up to the ceiling as her free hand gripped onto his thigh behind her. “Jeans getting a little tight wolf boy?” She teased, of course already well aware of the answer. 

"You're really pushing your luck aren't you?" He couldn't help but laugh out. Even in this situation, he couldn't deny that Ambur knew how to get him to laugh. "You're one to talk about tight pants. How did you even get these on?" 

It was Ambur's turn to laugh, knowing all too well that he had seen on at least one occasion how hard she had to work to get waistbands over her hips on a daily basis. "Spandex," she smirked as she looked back to him, finding his golden eyes shining back at her in the dark, half-open the same as hers. "Wonderful invention," she smiled. 

She was lucky he kept answering right in her ear or else she'd never been able to hear him. He, of course, could hear whatever he wanted to hear with those wolf ears of his, no matter how softly she spoke this close to him. "You gonna be able to control yourself?" She smirked. 

"Well, I guess that depends how badly you want me to doesn't it?" 

“Fair point,” she paused for a moment before looking back into his eyes. “Look I uh...I don't want to sour the mood but let's just...let this night be fun okay? We both could just use a fun night and I don't wanna...get in the way of your summer trip or...whatever you've got going on with Rosa so when we get back to the dorms let's just...cool it okay?”

Mydnight smiled softly as he nodded his head, “That's probably for the best ya...even if you are gonna leave me hangin',” he teased as she laughed. 

“Ya sorry,” she stuck her tongue out and winked at him. “Don't bang on the first date.”

“So it IS a date?” he gasped sarcastically sending her into another laughing fit. 

“Shut up,” she laughed out as she looked away from him. “Stop being perfect for like five minutes okay?”

“Yes mam,” he smirked.

/

“Ugh,” Liv let out as she sat down at the bar beside Gretchen. “There you are,” she said solemnly as she propped her head in hands and waved to the bartender, signaling for another drink. She was far happier now at her decision to put the man under her spell than she was before. 

"Uh ya? Why what's wrong?" Gretchen asked as she skeptically raised an eyebrow at her leader. "Seemed like you were having a good time last I saw you." 

Liv sighed audibly before covering her face with her hands, “Don't remind me.”

“Ooookay?” Gretchen let out as she took another sip of her drink.

“Huhhhhhh....Ambur and I almost kissed,” she let out as she ran her hands back through her hair and grabbed onto it tightly, pulling on it in frustration. 

Gretchen nearly spat out her sip as Liv said this, slapping her hand over her mouth before swallowing. "What?!" Gretchen had it written all over her face. Liv's statement had wildly amused her partner and Gretchen was very clearly trying her very hardest not to laugh. "How did that happen?! I looked away for like Ten minutes and you go and turn lesbian on me?" 

"No!" She half shouted back, trying to keep her voice down and motioning for Gretchen to do the same as the bartender came over and handed her her drink as she chugged half of the glass. "I'm...I'm not a-" she begins, unable to finish her statement as her thoughts assault her mind, remembering how willing she was in the moment. 

“Well shit Liv it's nothing to be ashamed of come on,” Gretchen elbowed her lightly before taking another sip of her drink. “What's so wrong with it?”

"No, there's...there's nothing wrong with it I just...I like men!" She again half shouted. "I've never had any kind of sexual urge to be with a woman before." 

“Well maybe you finally met the right woman,” Gretchen retorted in a smart-ass tone. 

Liv fell silent as she grumbled within her mind, mocking her partner before trying to settle down. “It doesn't matter anyway, she's out there dancing with Mydnight now and it seems like our little plan to get his attention worked,” she sulked.

“Well...did she want to kiss you too?” 

“I mean I...I thought she did...our lips touched and...I remembered that we were just trying to get Mydnight's attention and we got...carried away I guess...both of us did...” She sighed before shaking her head violently, trying to shoo the thoughts out of her mind, nearly falling forward onto the bar as she made herself dizzy by accident. 

“I mean...don't come crying to me ten years from now when you realize you're madly in love with your best friend,” Gretchen laughed before taking another sip. “Unless for some reason she's single but I think you missed that train.”

Liv was silent again for a few moments as she watched her reflection in her wine. “No I...it was just an accident. We're drunk and the music was just making us feel good and I...It won't happen again. Ambur is my friend...my BEST friend, and her being happy with Mydnight makes me happy...”

Gretchen had been watching her partner say all of this out of the corner of her eye and couldn't help but smirk again. “You trying to convince me or yourself?”

“...Bit of both I suppose...”

/

As the group walked out into the cool night air the mood had lightened significantly. Gretchen led the way as she had only had a single alcoholic drink the entire night and held Liv's hand, trying her best to take care of her leader. Ambur and Mydnight followed behind them, Liv and Ambur frankly astonished that the wolf had been able to contain himself the entire night with all of Ambur's teasing. Ambur had fully intended to ask for Liv's help in subduing him if necessary but he had actually held everything together rather well. 

As they finally made it back to the school for the night and made their way up to their dorms the two pairs quietly waited outside their doors to say goodnight. However, before they could all go inside their rooms Ambur spoke up. "Liv can I talk to you for a second though? Just uh...real quick?" She asked with a nervous smile. 

'Oh fuck here it comes,' Liv thought to herself as she felt Gretchen lightly tap her hip against her own, shoving her slightly toward Ambur as she opened their door and walked inside, shutting it behind her. “Uhhhyeah yeah sure,” she sighed nervously. Mydnight too opened there door and gave a light wave to the two before heading inside and shutting the door behind him. “What's up?”

“Well I uh...uhmmm,” she began slowly. “I wanted to...say...thank you for...everything. Just...really thank you for being the best friend...ever,” she smiled softly. 

“Oh,” Liv let out in surprise. 

“Ya,” Ambur began again. “For the tickets and for always being there for me and...well ya know...” She said as she shuffled her feet and looked down to the floor. “For stopping me from...ya know-” she said before Liv held up her hand.

“Don't uh...don't mention it,” Liv let out, without realizing what she had said. 

“Okay,” Ambur said flatly, “I won't.”

Liv looked back up to Ambur's face, finding her blankly staring back at her, emotionless. "Oh shit no I didn't mean..." she stopped herself from speaking as she realized that in her drunken state she had accidentally used her semblance on Ambur. "Fuck!" She half whispered half yelled to herself as she slapped her hand into her face. "God I'm sorry Ambur I didn't mean to do that." She sighed as she put her arms around her friend, pulling her into a hug. 

As Ambur seemed to regain herself she shook her head and pulled back from Olivier, giving her a questioning look. “Sorry for doing what?”

“Ambur I...” She began, wanting to explain what had happened but she knew her victims never remembered that they had been ordered to comply by her. “I'm sorry about...what happened on the dance floor tonight,” she let out. 

“Oh,” Ambur smiled nervously again as she waved a hand in front of her own face. “Please, you're the one who stopped me from...kissing you,” she whispered out lowly, trying to make sure that her partner wouldn't hear through the door. She could hear him rustling around near the closet though so she figured he hadn't heard. 

However, upon hearing the words come out of Ambur's mouth Liv's ears began to burn as her pale cheeks flushed bright red. “Just forget about it,” she let out quickly, “It was a mistake and it won't happen again...” She let out, flustered. 

Ambur was quiet for a moment again before speaking up in a quizzical tone. “What won't happen again?”

“Huh?” Liv asked as she looked back up to her friend, seeing her starring back down at her with a concerned look on her face. 

“What was a mistake? Are you okay?”

'Oh my god,' she thought to herself as her jaw dropped in horror. 'Oh my god oh my god what did I just do?!' she screamed inside her own head as she tried to keep her composure. "N-nothing," she stammered as she tried to escape. "I meant uh...staying out too late that's all I gotta...go to bed," she said as she fought back tears, plastering a fake smile onto her face. 

"Oookkayy then?" Ambur said as she shrugged her shoulders and turned toward her door. "Goodnight, thanks again for everything," the Amazon smiled down to her as she walked inside her room and closed the door. As soon as the door was shut the flood gates broke wide open and Liv began to cry like she hadn't cried in years. 

She began to run down the hall, completely aimless, needing to get as far away from Ambur;s room as fast as possible, only making it to the stairway before grabbing onto the railing and falling to her knees, collapsing on the stairs as her tears washed down her face and she began to hyperventilate in panic. “How could you!” She let out loud at herself. “God you horrible...HORRIBLE girl what did you just do?!” her voice raspy and cutting in and out as she cried. 

“You used your semblance on your best friend twice!” She whined as she struggled to wipe the tears from her face. “And after all that shit! After you went and nearly kissed her you made her forget it ever happened! What is wrong with me?!” She yelled to herself, the sound echoing in the empty dark Foyer. “God...why do I fuck everything up!?”

/

His fingers slowly tapped on the touch screen of his device as the light from it illuminated his face in the dark room. Mydnight had tried to slip out of his clothes and into his bed as quietly as he could, finding Rosa and Bronzine already asleep, as they should be this early in the morning. He was trying to pick his words as carefully as possible and kept looking over to where Rosa lay. He really didn't want to hurt her or anything but it had become quite clear to him over the course of the night that it was time to change. 

He knew what he had to do, especially before not seeing her at all over the summer, not wanting to wait until the start of next year to get the thoughts off of his mind. He didn't want to carry the baggage and guilt with him while off with Qrow, going who knows where. Finally, he felt that his text was sufficient and he hoped that he wouldn't have to face the consequences of his words in the morning. After all, students were going to be leaving the school in the morning for the start of summer break so he was crossing his fingers and hoping that Rosa would be gone already by the time he woke up. 

She had already packed her bags and had expressed to everyone that her trip home was going to start quite early in the morning. Finally, he pressed the send button and locked the screen of his phone. 

'I need to take a break from this...' it read. 'Whatever it is we have going on right now I just need time to...think. You already know I'm not gonna be around this summer and I don't want to keep your hopes up if you've been thinking that we are going to go right back to the way things were. I'm sorry.'

/

Liv was exhausted. She had a pounding headache, she felt gross and on top of everything she was dealing with it was pouring out. The sky was gray and cloudy and rain fell from it consistently all morning as she had finished packing up all of her belongings. "What a perfect day to be fucking miserable," she mumbled, her chin rested in her palm, hunched over on the bench at the bus stop on the side of the road. 

She had been the last of her friends to leave the school. Her entire team had left early in the morning and Mydnight and Ambur were the last to go. Liv had put on a smile and said her goodbyes but as soon as they were facing the other way and walking away her expression flipped. She found that she couldn't look away from Ambur until she was finally completely out of sight, watching the partner's board the shuttle down to Vale together. 

Her words from the night before still stung in her mind, digging her nails into her own palms every time her thoughts repeated themselves. However, every time her mind would wander back to that one perfect moment, the moment before she had stopped herself, her fingers would trace her own lips as she starred off into the rain-soaked tarmac. "Congrats Liv...you've officially third wheeled yourself," she thought out loud. "Why did it take so long for me to realize that I...that we were so..." She began before breaking off and getting flashes of Ambur and Mydnight in her mind. 

“...It's for the best...she loves him and I...we would have ended up like all my other relationships...” she said softly as she looked up through the glass ceiling of the small bus stop, looking up into the clouds. “She's too good for me...”

She ran her hands through her damp, long white locks, trying again, as she had before to squeeze some more of the water out of them. The truth is she was wet from the rain, head to toe. When she had gotten off of the shuttle she walked in a haze down to the bus stop. She was in such a foul, out of body, mood that she had forgotten to use her umbrella and all of her clothing was soaked. She had barely felt the rain as it had hit her though, her mind so far down in the fog of her self loathing that nothing could bother her on the outside. 

Finally, though she heard the loud sound of air brakes squeaking, looking up to find her bus in front of her, a few passengers getting off and passing her by. As she stood she finally felt it, the wetness of her clothing, clinging to her skin and making her shiver. It wasn't nearly cold enough out for her to shiver, quite the contrary, but that nasty feeling of wet fabric did the job. As she flashed her student ID to the driver and took her seat she fished her scroll out of her wet pocket. Finding the device working fine she pulled up her contacts and hovered over Ambur's name for a few seconds as she took in a deep breath. 

She looked to the window as they began to move again, losing herself in the grayness of the day, watching buildings slowly slip past her before reaching into her carry-on bag and pulling out a pair of white and gold headphones attaching them to her device and tabbing away from Ambur's contact information. As she scrolled through her music she finally settled upon a playlist that would fit her mood, a lo-fi hip hop list of lyric-less music that seemed to only drone on infinitely. Perfect for a crappy rainy day on which she felt completely worthless. 

She would eventually forget that she was soaked again, the feeling of the wet fabric slowly moving out of the forefront her mind as she sat still, her eyes glazed over as the world moved around her. Finally, however, her mind would come back around as she felt the device vibrate in her hand, forcing her to look down and read it. "Ambur," she breathed out as she read the message to herself. 

'I made it home, are you at the airport yet?' It read.

'On the bus now,' she typed before hesitating to send it to her. After a few moments however her thumb pressed into the send button and as it did her whole body slammed forward into the seat in front of her. Having no time to react, her aura was not up and she was lucky the seats were made of soft cushion material, allowing her to recoil and look up to the bus driver. 

"What the he-" she got out as she ripped her headphones off before she began to register the incredible noise of a horn blaring. As the words from her mouth trailed off and her eyes widened she looked back out the window only moments before a train collided with the bus only a few seats ahead of her. The bus jerked to the side, flinging her from her seat before the vehicle was torn in half by the giant iron battering ram, her's being flung from the railroad crossing that the bus had collided with another car in the middle of and coming to rest several yards from where it once stood. Her world would have been filled with deafening noise, twisted metal trapping her inside the wreckage and shattered glass sticking into her back as she lay on the ceiling of the overturned bus. 

That is if she was conscious to experience it. 

_End of Chapter_


End file.
